LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (WHAS11) -- A landmark you're used to seeing along I-65 soon won't be in sight anymore. Crews are working to have Old Cardinal Stadium demolished by the end of May.
"The contractor is taking down incrementally the stadium with the canopy, the seats and the structure behind it," Paul Cable, the project manager, said.
While some people may have expected some explosions, Cable said it'll instead be taken down piece by piece because it's easier for crews.
"We decided early on that exploding this building was not the thing that needed to be done and it just wouldn't be efficient to do it," he said.
Cable said the project certainly has its challenges.
"Part of the challenge is to get everything down in a safe manner," he said. "They've been working until dark a lot of nights and they've just said we're going to get this finished, it's in our contract so we're going to get it done."
Crews contracted to have the entire demolition and clean-up process completed by May 22.
"Part of all this is involved with getting the site cleaned up for future use by the Kentucky exposition center for mainly the fair in the summertime," Cable said.
Cable said he doesn't know the dollar amount that can be placed on the value of the property, but he said it is of large value in terms of expanding state fair operations.
"Having this out of the way lets them expand some of the opportunities for the state fair especially for livestock, expositions, and people having their animals out here. They're going to develop that before they have pens. We'll have some utilities," he said.
According to Cable, the demolition project was designed to have a focus on recycling and re-using any parts that could be. The open-bid project has a demolition contract costing $1.8 million.
"They're cutting up reinforcing steel. There's cast iron involved with the seat structures to hold the seats up. There's concrete, in this case, they'll take that, recycle it and sell it for salvage," he said. "The DOT building that used to be out front, we demolished that and they're taking some of the concrete out of this structure, crushing it, to use to fill over there where we have the old basement, and to put the gravel down in the lot so it can be used for parking and other uses for the state fair and other programs."
Cable said the stadium has sentimental value for many people, which is part of the reason they chose to sell some of the seats.
"It'll be completely different. I mean this is an icon and people are used to it being here so when you drive down I-65, you'll just say 'what happened?' It'll just be a whole different view and context," Cable said.
While the surface may change from turf to concrete, many people will still remember what was there before.
"A lot of people around here this area and this community have been here, and been here for years, and people that are my age came as children and saw ball games and you saw football," Cable said. "It means a lot of things to a lot of people."
►Contact reporter Tyler Emery at temery@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@TylerWHAS11) and Facebook.