Reunion Arena Demolition Slowed by Asbestos Finding

The closing and demolition of landmark Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, began in March of 2009, after a February rally for President Barack Obama.

The arena officially closed in July of 2008, as a result of a non-compete contract with the American Airlines Center to the north. The first phases of demolition involved disconnecting utilities and selling off salvageable materials.

Removal of the roof was one huge part of the process, with much of the metal in the roof hopefully salvaged and sold for its resale value. The cost of demolition is estimated at $6 million, with part of that cost offset by salvage. The property on which the arena sits remains in a limbo, with Dallas City Council officials unsure whether to hold the land, redevelop it or lease it.

The demolition project was put on hold when roof removal crews discovered Styrofoam insulation in the upper deck and an asbestos-filled waterproofing layer around the arena's lower-level retaining walls below the roof. The discovery put paid to the idea of using explosives to bring down the roof, as had originally been proposed.

The Styrofoam delayed demolition by a month and cost $50,000. The asbestos will delay the project even further, and cost an additional $450,000 at minimum, and the project - slated to be completed before Thanksgiving - may now be delayed almost until Christmas.

Asbestos, widely used during most of the last century in many insulative building products, contains miniscule fibers which, when inhaled or ingested by swallowing saliva, can imbed themselves in the mesothelial linings of the lungs, heart and abdomen, leading eventually to malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma, a particularly lethal form of cancer, has a long dormancy period - typically 20 years but up to five decades - during which tumors progressively invade vital tissues, causing more and more damage.

The disease doesn't produce significant symptoms until the latter stages, by which time diagnosis almost invariably leads to a prognosis of less than 18 months to live. In ten percent of cases, where the disease is caught early and treated with an aggressive regiment of surgery and dual chemotherapies, patients may live up to five years.

Some Dallas residents complained when city officials and A&R Demolition, the contractor hired to bring the roof down, decided not to use explosives. Residents said the delay was deliberate in order to inflate project costs. In fact, their use would have delivered a lethal load of asbestos fibers into the air in the vicinity of the arena, and as asbestos legacy to the soil around the arena that would prevent future development or make its cost prohibitive because of asbestos remediation costs.

Currently, all that remains of the historic arena is the roof and its four column supports, which officials say will start to come down around December 7. Completion of the entire project, which will result in a grassy field that can later be repurposed as needed, is slated for March of 2010.

Sources: MSNBC, Dallas News, Pegasus News

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