Crews begin tearing down last portion of Tiger Stadium
Crews began demolishing what's left of Tiger Stadium on Friday as fans looked on and said goodbye to the historic ballpark.
A backhoe tore apart a portion of the lower deck along the former third-base line about an hour after Detroit Economic Growth Corp. executive vice-president Waymon Guillebeaux emerged from an onsite meeting with the demolition contractor and told The Associated Press he had given the go-ahead.
More than a dozen fans gathered on a nearby pedestrian bridge to watch the work. A machine blasted water overhead to keep down dust.
Peter Riley, one of the leaders of the various efforts to save the stadium after the Tigers departed following the 1999 season, watched equipment move toward the stadium.
"To use a sports phrase, it's like losing Game 7," he said. "You don't put in the passion, you don't put in the time, you don't put in the money for an unhappy ending."
Kathy D'Angelo watched the demolition and said she wished the stadium could have been preserved.
"There's not too many places downtown that are great memories," she said. "For those of us in the 50s and 60s, this was prime time."
Leveling the stadium will take 30 days, and crews will remain onsite for an additional 30-60 days to handle cleanup, DEGC spokesman Robert Rossbach said.
He said the city of Detroit is paying $400,000 US to a joint venture of MCM Management Corp. of Bloomfield Hills and Farrow Group of Detroit. The demolition contract also allows the companies to sell the remaining portion of the stadium for scrap.
"Every contractor, once they're on site, wants to get things done as quickly as possible because time is money," Rossbach said, adding that the contractor made the decision to begin demolition Friday. "DEGC did not …direct the contractor to work on any particular schedule."
The historic ballpark opened as Navin Field in 1912.
Much of the ballpark was knocked down last year. The city of Detroit decided Tuesday to level the remaining structure after rejecting a non-profit group's $33.4 million US redevelopment plan.