Georgia Dome crumbles — well, most of it

(TNS) — The Georgia Dome didn’t go down without a fight.

When the dust cleared from Monday morning’s implosion, two sections of the 25-year-old building were still standing, defying the dynamite.

“I think she might have been a little sturdier than what they gave her credit for,” said Carl Adkins, the Dome’s former general manager.

He smiled slightly, seemingly proud one last time of a building that hosted Super Bowls, Final Fours, the Olympics, 256 Falcons games and many other marquee events from 1992 until early this year.

“It served the city and state well in its day,” Dan Graveline, the former executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, said moments before the implosion. “It helped Atlanta reach the pinnacle of the sports world.”

Other than the two stubborn portions — a long wall on the east end and a ramp structure on the northwest corner — the Dome succumbed in about 12 seconds to 4,800 pounds of explosives.

The surviving sections will be knocked down by mechanical means, using “large excavators with concrete-crushing pulverizers on them,” according to the lead demolition contractor.

Rick Cuppetilli, executive vice president of the Detroit-based Adamo Group, said it isn’t yet known how long it will take to bring down the remaining portions or why they didn’t fall during the implosion.

“We haven’t assessed everything yet,” he said.

What remains to be brought down, he insisted, is no big deal.

“We do that every day all over the country. It’s nothing,” he said. “Basically one of the six ramps and maybe a couple hundred feet of wall, that’s it.”

The implosion caused “no damage at all” to the adjacent Georgia World Congress Center and only “one little nick” to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium 83 feet away, Cuppetilli said. He described that nick as a scratch in a door frame.

The new $1.5 billion stadium, the Dome’s successor, did receive a heavy blast of dust.

“The wind switched on us and went right there,” Cuppetilli said. “We weren’t going to stop the implosion, so we’re going to work on cleanup efforts with them.”

Richard Adamo, president of the demolition contractor, pushed the button to set off the explosives that had been strategically placed throughout the Dome. The roof collapsed first, and most of the rest of the building promptly crumbled within its footprint.

“It was quite impressive watching it come down, and the portions that came down, I couldn’t have been happier,” Cuppetilli said.

He said the roof was a demolition challenge, because no other had ever been built like it.

“Our focus was on the roof and the (upper) ring,” he said. “Our focus was … to make the dangerous parts come down. … All the upper level is down.”

Seeing the building crumble was an emotional and nostalgic sight for some of the 100 or so people watching from a private viewing area about 800 feet away.

Adkins described the moment as “surreal” and admitted he teared up “just a little.”

Another person in the group could be heard crying audibly.

Moments earlier, Graveline, who retired as GWCCA executive director in 2009 and was instrumental in getting the Dome built, put the emotions in context.

“I know many of us … are kind of sad to see the old girl come down with this much love, sweat and tears in it,” he said. “But I hope that most who were involved in it from Day 1 and beyond also have a great sense of pride about what we did with the Dome.

“We’re a little bit sad, very much proud, and I think excited that the future of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium is bright.”

Shortly after the implosion, the Georgia Dome’s official Twitter account posted a photo of the still-standing wall and these words: “Y’all thought it would be easy just to get rid of me? Nah.”

More to come.