Description

Concordia University Demolished to Make Way for New Growth

By. R.G. Pickard - Associated Construction Publications

When the Concordia University campus, which was built in 1926 near present day downtown Austin, needed room to expand, real estate in the area had become tremendously expensive. The original 23-acre campus was estimated to be worth $80 million on the real estate market in 2006, so the decision was made to sell the land and move the Concordia campus to the old Schlumberger Oil Company's 365-acre research campus at the Balcones Canyonland Preserves on the outskirts of Austin.

The buildings on campus that had to be demolished ranged from approximately 5,000 square feet to approximately 60,000 square feet in size, with the tallest being four stories. Prior to demolition, asbestos remediation on the site was done by Heart of Texas Demolition's sister company Allstate Environmental Ltd., and a number of trees on site were removed and mulched by Austin Wood Recycling.

Heart of Texas Demolition used conventional methods to demolish the campus structures, employing a Hyundai 360 excavator with shear, and two Hyundai 290 excavators with hammer and processor attachments. Materials were loaded and removed using a Caterpillar 973 loader and a Terex articulated dump truck.