Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) is a controlled demolition firm headquartered in Phoenix, Maryland. The firm was founded by Jack Loizeaux who used dynamite to remove tree stumps in the

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

area, and moved on to using explosives to take down chimneys, overpasses and small buildings in the 1940s. The company has demolished several notable buildings by implosion, including the Gettysburg National Tower, the Seattle

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...

, the

Kingda Ka Kingda Ka was a hydraulically-launched steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, Kingda Ka opened as the in the world on May 21, 200 ...

roller coaster at

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...

, and the uncollapsed portion of the Champlain Towers South condominium. The company is known worldwide for its willingness to take on projects deemed impossible, too big, too complicated, too dangerous, too political or otherwise and still pulling them off; examples include the aforementioned Kingda Ka on February 28, 2025 and the Kingdome in 2000, both of which were deemed nigh impossible to demolish safely.

Records

The firm has claimed world records for a series of 1998 projects: The June 23 demolition of the 1,201-foot-high Omega Radio Tower in

Trelew Trelew (, from "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina, 21km away from the coast. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the ...

, Argentina, "the tallest manmade structure ever felled with explosives"; The August 16 implosion of the 17-building Villa Panamericana and Las Orquideas public housing complex in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, "the most buildings shot in a single implosion sequence"; and the October 24 project at the

J. L. Hudson Department Store The J. L. Hudson Building ("Hudson's") was a department store located at 1206 Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was constructed beginning in 1911, with additions throughout the years, before being "completed" in 1946, and named ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, which at in height became "the tallest building & the tallest structural steel building ever imploded" and its making it "the largest single building ever imploded".Satchell, Michael
"Bringing down the house"
'' U.S. News & World Report''. Accessed September 17, 2008.

Selected projects

Old Sunshine Skyway Bridge

In 1990, the FDOT awarded a bid to Hardaway Company (owner of Controlled Demolition, Inc.) to demolish all steel and concrete sections of the old Sunshine Skyway spans. The scope of the project required that all underwater piles and piers, and surface roadway, girders, and beams, be dismantled. Special care had to be taken in removing underwater bridge elements near the channel, and the central portion of the original bridge had to be removed in one piece to minimize closure of the only approach to the busy

Port of Tampa Port Tampa Bay, known as the Port of Tampa until January 2014, is the largest port in the state of Florida and is overseen by the Tampa Port Authority, a Hillsborough County agency. The port is located in Tampa, Florida near downtown Tampa's Ch ...

. Most of the concrete material was used to create an

artificial reef An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote Marine biology#Reefs, marine life, it may be intended to control #Erosion prevention, erosio ...

near the southbound approach of the old bridge, which was converted into a long pier for newly created

Skyway Fishing Pier State Park __NOTOC__ Skyway Fishing Pier State Park is a Florida State Parks, Florida State Park located on the north and south sides of the mouth of Tampa Bay. When the original cantilevered Sunshine Skyway Bridge, carrying Interstate 275 (Florida), I-275 ...

. Unused approaches to the original spans were demolished in 2008.

Alfred P. Murrah Building, Oklahoma City

On May 23, 1995, the firm was responsible for the demolition of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after its bombing on April 19, 1995.

The Seattle Kingdome

On March 26, 2000, the firm used 4,450 pounds of dynamite placed in 5,905 carefully sited holes and of detonation cord inserted over a period of four months to take down the 25,000-ton concrete roof of the

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

in 16.8 seconds, one day before the 24th birthday of the stadium that had been the home of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. The total cost for the demolition project was $9 million. The firm planned the collapse of the roof to prevent its simultaneous free fall, creating a delay pattern that would break the roof into pieces and setting up 15-foot-high earth berms on the floor of the stadium to absorb the impact of the falling concrete. The demolition of the Kingdome established the record for the largest structure, by volume, ever demolished with explosives. The implosion of the 125,000-ton concrete structure did not cause a single crack in the foundation of the new stadium being built away.

Gettysburg National Tower

CDI demolished the Gettysburg National Tower on July 3, 2000, which was the 137th anniversary of the final day of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...

. The demolition was done for free for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. The tower was felled by of explosives in front of a crowd of 10,000.

World Trade Center Site

On September 22, 2001, eleven days after the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, a preliminary cleanup plan for the

World Trade Center site The World Trade Center site, often referred to as " Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north ...

was delivered by Controlled Demolition, Inc. in which Mark Loizeaux, president of CDI, emphasized the importance of protecting the

slurry wall A slurry wall is a civil engineering technique used to build reinforced concrete walls in areas of soft earth close to open water, or with a high groundwater table. This technique is typically used to build diaphragm (water-blocking) walls surro ...

(known as " the bathtub") which kept the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

from flooding the WTC's basement.

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40

The tower was disassembled during late 2007 and early 2008. Demolition of the Mobile Service Structure (MSS), by means of a controlled explosion, occurred on 2008-04-27. ''National Geographic Channel: Man Made: Rocket Tower'' has a full episode on the demolition

Martin Tower

Martin Tower, the 21-story world headquarters building of defunct

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

and the tallest building in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, was imploded by Controlled Demolition on May 19, 2019, at a reported cost of $575,000.

Champlain Towers South

The company was contracted to demolish the remaining portion of the 12-story condominium building near Miami Beach, Florida, after it partially collapsed on June 24, 2021; the work was expedited due to the potential threat of

Hurricane Elsa Hurricane Elsa was a destructive tropical cyclone that affected many countries along its path during the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the earliest-forming fifth named storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean, and the first Atlantic hurr ...

. The demolition occurred on July 4, 2021, after only a day of preparation, including placement of explosives; city officials had feared that the demolition could take weeks. As the still-standing structure was unstable, it was considered unsafe to enter and CDI had originally estimated that the demolition could not occur until the following day, since the work had to be done carefully and slowly to avoid a premature collapse. This risk of collapse and its risk to rescuers warranted the controlled demolition, which was directed away from the original collapse footprint.

Other projects

* Manchester Bridge *

Pruitt–Igoe The Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments, known together as Pruitt–Igoe (), were joint urban housing projects first occupied in 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The complex of 33 eleven-story high rises was design ...

* Traymore Hotel * Woodmen of the World Building * Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel * Hotel Manger * Corbett Building * Hotel Charlotte * Dunes Hotel and Casino * Commonwealth Building * Landmark Hotel and Casino *

Sands Hotel and Casino The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent high sign, the Sands was the seve ...

* Hacienda (resort) * Farmers Bank Building *

Omni Coliseum Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Cente ...

* Aladdin Hotel and Casino * Omega Tower Trelew * J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition * Lake Michigan High-Rises *

St. Louis Arena St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchis ...

Mapes Hotel The Mapes Hotel was a hotel and casino located in Downtown Reno, Nevada, next to the Truckee River on Virginia Street. It was built in 1947 and opened on December 17 of that year. It was the first skyscraper built in the Western United States si ...

El Rancho Hotel and Casino The El Rancho Hotel and Casino (formerly known as the Thunderbird and Silverbird) was a hotel and casino that operated on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It originally opened on September 2, 1948, as the Navajo-themed Thunderbird. At ...

Three Rivers Stadium Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) ...

* Naval Hospital Philadelphia *

Market Square Arena Market Square Arena (MSA) was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of larg ...

* Capital Centre *

Everglades Hotel History Construction of the hotel was completed just before the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, which flooded the lobby. Television station WTVJ (channel 4, now 6) originally had its transmitter atop the hotel when it signed on the air in 1949 ...

* Baptist Memorial Hospital *Cooling tower at the

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was a pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant (Westinghouse design) in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, located southeast of Rainier, Oregon, Rainier, Oregon, and so far, the only commercial nuclear ...

Stardust Resort and Casino The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by h ...

*Cooling towers at the

Calder Hall nuclear power station Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station is a former Magnox nuclear power station at Sellafield in Cumbria in North West England. Calder Hall was the first full-scale nuclear power station to enter operation in the West, and was the sister plant to the ...

Sands Atlantic City Sands Atlantic City was a casino and hotel that operated from August 13, 1980 until November 11, 2006 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was formerly known as the Brighton Hotel & Casino. It consisted of a 21-story hotel tower with 532 rooms and ...

New Frontier Hotel and Casino The New Frontier (formerly Hotel Last Frontier and The Frontier) was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The property began as a casino and dance club known as Pair O' Dice, opened in 1931. It was sold in 1941, and inc ...

RCA Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention ...

* Ocean Tower *

Houston Main Building The Houston Main Building (HMB)

* Fort Steuben Bridge *

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, ...

* Grand Palace Hotel * Innerbelt Bridge * Queen Lane Apartments *

Riviera Hotel and Casino The Riviera (colloquially, "the Riv") was a hotel and casino on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened on April 20, 1955, and included a nine-story hotel featuring 291 rooms. The Riviera was the first skyscraper in the Las ...

* Clemson House * Capital Plaza Office Tower * 505 North Ervay *

The Palace of Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly known as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Shock of the ...

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino Trump Plaza was a hotel and casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts. Designed by architect Alan Lapidus, it operated from May 14, 1984, until September 16, 2014. History Early years The T ...

* Ferrybridge Power Station sub-contracted by Keltbray Decommissioning * 420 Main * Hotel Deauville * Francis Scott Key Bridge * Capital One Tower *

Tropicana Las Vegas The Tropicana Las Vegas was a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It operated from 1957 to 2024. In its final years, the property included a casino and 1,467 rooms. The complex occupied at the southeast corner of the Tro ...

*Chimney at Alma Station *

*Sheraton Crossroads Hotel (Mahwah, New Jersey)

References

External links

Controlled Demolition, Inc.
by Nova (TV series)
Loizeaux Group, LLC Youtube channel
{{Authority control Companies based in Baltimore County, Maryland Demolition American companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in Maryland