Three hours after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Chicago Bears in the Jan. 2002 playoff game, Brandenburg Industrial Services Co.’s crew of approximately 30 workers started tearing down the city’s historical landmark Soldier Field.
“We mobilized quickly and had about 30 people out here at that time,” said Tony Scott, one of Brandenburg’s foremen on the Soldier Field project. Other foremen included Tony Evans, Chuck Ruprecht and Joe Warren. Ron Freeman was the superintendent, Mark Cerven was the project engineer, Tim Garvey was the estimator, Bob Victor was the environmental engineer, and Andy Youpel was the safety engineer.
Scott noted that he has been on the lakefront Chicago demolition site months previously wrecking the Chicago Park District’s Administration building just north of Soldier Field.
Brandenburg crews worked on a 24/7 schedule until the demolition was completed. “We had about 50 people on at night and a little more than 60 on during the day. We were running pretty good,” (colloquial?) Evans explained. He ran the nightshift while Scott ran the dayshift.
In fact, Brandenburg came in two weeks ahead of schedule on an already aggressive aggressive six-week schedule.
All in all the company removed more than 80,000 cu. yds. (61,164 cu m) of soil and concrete. All of the concrete and steel were recycled.
Equipment used on site included 984, 954 and 922 Liebherr excavators, Cat 980 and 973 front end loaders, Bobcat 973 skid steer loaders and 165-ton (150 t) American cranes, according to Scott. By April, the company was busy tying up some loose ends “and doing some punch list work,” Scott said.
The most distinctive portion of Soldier Field, the Doric colonnades aerially perched along the east and west sides, have been allowed to remain. Brandenburg had to be extra careful on the project because the columns that give the stadium a “Greek and Roman stadia” feel had to remain intact. They will be part of the new stadium as they have been since the football field’s inception.
According to a portion of the Chicago Bears’ Web site dedicated to the renovation of Soldier Field, “The colonnades of Soldier Field, symbols of both civic pride and respect for our armed services, will be preserved, restoring and maintaining the historic nature of the facility.”
The general contractor for the construction of Soldier Field is a joint venture between Turner Construction and Kenny Construction, both out of Chicago, and Barton Malow of Detroit.
The cost of the new stadium runs up to $587 million. The breakdown of this figure is as follows: $365 million for the construction; $75 million for an underground parking structure, which will house 2,500 spaces adjacent to the museum and aquarium; and $147 million in related infrastructure such as 3,100 spaces of outside parking, roadway improvements, site work, utilities, storm drainage and miscellaneous work.
Soldier Field will boast many highlights to compete with other new NFL stadiums, as it is the oldest stadium currently in use by more than 30 years. The new stadium will have ample restrooms, improved seating, an enlarged concourse, improved concessions, better sightlines, two 96-ft. (29 m) by 23-ft. (7 m) wide videoboards, expanded parking and much more.
Part of the project is the 19 acres (7.7 ha) of parkland that will become a lakefront recreation venue for the city. The area will include a terraced park, a winter garden, a sledding hill and other hard-surfaced sports areas. It will also include a museum visitor center, new parking facilities, bus drop-offs and roads to improve access in the busy downtown area.
Funding for the new stadium consisted of a bond issue of $387 million from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA), tourist and hotel taxes, and a $200-million contribution from the Chicago Bears.
The construction, which officially began in February, is on an accelerated schedule of 20 months and will be ready for the 2003 football season. Until completion, the Bears will play at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium.
A Unique History
Built in the 1920s at a cost of $10 million, Soldier Field has seen its share of entertainment, football wins and losses and historical events. Five years before, Holibird and Roche won the architectural competition to build the new stadium. It was originally designed as a memorial to the soldiers of World War I. It opened in 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium. Within a year, it was renamed Soldier Field and dedicated in November.
By 1926, it was officially dedicated during the Army-Navy game to the men and women of the armed forces.
When it was completed, it held 74,280 permanent bleacher seats made of fir planking. It could also accommodate more than 30,000 additional spectators on temporary bleachers, upper promenades and on the large, open field and terrace beyond the north endzone.
The first event was a police meet gathering 1,000 police athletes and 90,000 spectators. Crowds in excess of 100,000 became commonplace in the years to come.
In 1944, 150,000 people attended a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt, and in July 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed a crowd of more than 50,000 during the campaign to end slums in Chicago.
The Chicago Bears began using the facility regularly in September 1971. Then, capacity was cut to 57,000 to bring season ticket holders closer to the field.
Soldier Field has undergone reconstruction and renovation starting in 1978 that included new lighting, new playing surface, locker room and rebuilding the stadium’s seating area with chairback, arm-rest seats.
By 1981, Soldier Field had completed the remaining seating areas, press boxes, deluxe skybox suites and computerized scoreboard. The seating capacity as of January 2002 was 66,950.
About Brandenburg
Brandenburg Industrial Services Co.,was established in 1968, as Brandenburg Demolition, by Tom Little. He decided to name the company Brandenburg because he said, jokingly, “I couldn’t very well name it the Little Demolition Co.’ Little enjoys classical music, especially the Brandenburg Concerto, and that is how he ultimately came to choose the name Brandenburg.
Little worked for several years at civil engineering firms, and later came to Chicago to work for an excavation contractor. His last job before starting the company, was working as an estimator for Cleveland Wrecking Co., while it was in Chicago. When he started, Little had one part-time employee. Now the company boasts between 550 and 600 employees with four locations in Chicago (the headquarters); Detroit, MI; Gary, IN; and Bethlehem, PA.
Some of the firm’s largest and most difficult demolition projects in Chicago include the 28-story McCormick Inn Hotel, the entire U.S. Steel Southworks plant, the 3 million- square-ft. Sears Catalogue Warehouse and the implosion of four 16-story high-rise buildings at once.
Like Soldier Field, Brandenburg has a history of getting projects done way before deadline. It performed a 20-month project at Chicago’s Navy Pier that was completed eight months ahead of schedule, and the McCormick Hotel, which was finished in 90 days.
Brandenburg is active in the National Association of Demolition Contractors. Little is a past president and Brandenburg’s Vice-President of Marketing Bill Moore is the current vice president of the NADC and will take the position of president in March 2003.
The company has received numerous awards over the years including an award from the U.S. Department of Labor for exceeding minority/female requirements on a U.S. Post Office project. The company also boasts an impressive safety record, marking 1999 without a lost-time accident.
Brandenburg is currently performing one of the largest Brownfield projects in the country with the 1,800-acre (728 ha) BethWorks redevelopment job at Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Bethlehem. When work is completed in 2005, the company will have disposed of 6,540 cu. yds. (5,000 cu m) of asbestos material; recycled 750,000 tons (680,389 t) of ferrous scrap; and recycled 1,000 tons (907 t) of hazardous coke oven by-products.
The company is a total quality management firm with ISO 9001 certification.
For more information, call 800/932-2869 or visit www.Brandenburg.info or www.soldierfield.net.
