Higher-than-anticipated costs delaying Coliseum demolition

Mary E. O'Leary , New Haven Register Topics Editor, 11/15/2006

-NEW HAVEN — First it was safety issues, now it’s money, but the two are not unrelated.

The latest hurdle to clear before the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum can come tumbling down is resolution of unanticipated costs.

Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield said Tuesday that inadequate information provided by the United Illuminating Co. delayed the project and necessitated extensive engineering consultations to develop a plan to protect its equipment.

The city and Stamford Wrecking are now in negotiations over who should pick up the additional costs.

Stamford won the bid for the $10 million contract, which also includes demolition of the former Macy’s building on Church Street. No one would comment on how much additional money will be needed to resolve the holdup.

While Goldfield feels UI was at fault for not originally informing the city of what was needed to protect its underground equipment, he said they don’t appear legally liable.

"Their requirements for protection were beyond what anyone anticipated," he said. "If we had gotten the information early on, the contract would have been more expensive. ... We were given a lower price because it was anticipated there was less work to do."

Economic Development Director Kelly Murphy would only say the city and Stamford Wrecking were in negotiations and she hasn’t ruled out a "fall" deadline for imploding the Coliseum.

Al Carbone, spokesman for UI, said "this is an issue between the city of New Haven and Stamford Wrecking."

He said they made their concerns about protecting their equipment beneath the Coliseum and its parking garage "well known" starting last summer. But by that point, the contract had already been approved.

UI requested technical impact studies both for the extensive conventional demolition at the site, as well as for the implosion before it would sign off on the project in August.

Carbone said they have to follow a detailed protocol, particularly for events of such magnitude.

The arena portion of the Coliseum was demolished last year and since then several of the concrete floors of the 1,200 space garage, which sat on top of the arena, have been taken down, as well as a considerable portion of the steel skeleton.

Holes for explosives have been drilled into remaining supports and earth and tires will be used to cushion the implosion, along with a temporary bridge that will be placed over the most sensitive underground utilities.

It will be all over in 18.5 seconds, once Demolition Dynamics, the firm subcontracted to do the actual implosion, sets off the explosives.