Renowned implosion expert clears way for 23-story world-class resort hotel
The second golden era of Black Hawk has begun, with the city and casinos making hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to attract more visitors. On Wednesday, December 21, at 8:30 a.m., Monarch Casino Black Hawk imploded most of its 19-year-old old 5-story parking garage to clear space for a world-class 23-story hotel and spa as part of its $400 million dollar, four-diamond resort development plan. The new hotel is scheduled to be completed in two years and opened in late 2018, and will have about 500 rooms and suites, an upscale spa and pool facility and four restaurants. A small portion of the garage attached to the casino will be manually demolished at a later time, but the majority of the 10,000 pound concrete structure was destroyed in the implosion using more than 300 pounds of explosives which took about 10 seconds with gravity doing most of the work after the detonation. Main Street was closed off at 4 a.m., with Highway 119 closed off at 7:30 a.m. and reopened at 8:45 a.m. The casino reopened at 9:30 a.m., and the new parking garage reopened at 11 a.m.
Mark Loizeaux of Controlled Demolition, Inc. was overseeing the implosion and as part of the six week preparation, had crews wrap the building with a geotextile fabric to control the dust and debris. Loizeaux is a leading global expert in demolition whose family has been in the business more than six decades. He stated that the Monarch owners were looking for the best means of getting the garage down safely and in a timely manner.
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