Demolition crews remove warehouses at the San Jose Earthquakes proposed new stadium site

Usually a trip out to the Nutrilite Training Facility to watch the San Jose Earthquakes practice is a pretty predictable affair — the players scrimmage and do light drills all the while in the shadow of the large warehouse next door on the sight of the proposed new stadium. Well, something seemed very different this week when I arrived at the NTF — and I am not referring to the return to the team of Steven Lenhart (more on that in a later training report) — the sun was shining just a little bit more on the fine green grass of the training field. The imposing warehouse that dominated the view since the facility opened up last season was gone.

When the Earthquakes celebrated Demolition Day on March 3^rd, the project supervisor told me that if all went well, they would have the steel buildings fully removed by the middle of April. Given the state of the site, I would not blame the contractors for holding a good ol’ Dubya-inspired “Mission Accomplished” ceremony to celebrate the achievement. While the more sturdy masonry buildings still need to be torn down, the most visual of the warehouses are now fully on their way to the recyclers and the dump.

For some before and after photos from the demolition site…

The next two photos are stitched together from shots taken across the width of the proposed stadium site; please click on the photos for the full-sized images.

Up next are a couple of the pre-Demolition Day photos. You can see the edge of the training facility on the right hand side of the photo. The excavator dominating the foreground was the same one used in the Demolition Day ceremony.