Have you ever tried to save vintage fixtures from a vacant building that is going to be torn down? I did, and was unsucessful.

There was a vacant ice arena (Columbia Arena, where Mighty Ducks 3 was filmed)not to far from here. It had been vacant since 2006, and is now in the process of being maliciously destroyed (being demolished with backhoes). Now, it is kind of traumatizing seeing a building you have known for as long as you can remember being destroyed. But, that's not the worst part. There were about 100 aluminum highbays that looked like they were pretty old (I saw pics of them in old pictures). In the video farther below, you can clearly see them getting destroyed as a huge chunk of roof falls on them. Anyway, the fixture I tried to save was a GE m250r1 on a concrete wall over a garage door on the building. I even went to the extent of contacting the city about having it removed and set aside. Unfortunately, they could not do that, because it would have raised the demolition cost, and there were liability issues involved too.
So,anyway, a few weeks later, I see a backhoe hacking away at the wall it is on, when suddenly, the wall gives way and falls forward, and the fixture gets crushed from the weight of a huge concrete wall faling on it. I later saw the remains, and you could barely tell it had once been a beautiful m250 r1. It was just a crinkled heap of aluminum surrounded by broken glass. I don't know about you, but for me it was pretty traumatizing seeing a vintage fixture being smashed beyond recognition.  
Anyway, in the video below, between the 1:14 mark and 1:20 mark, you can see the highbays falling to their death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Vt5Xo1o1o
To me, this is like a horror movie( ), seeing perfectly good fixtures being maliciously destroyed.  
Have you ever had a similar experience?

That is so sad there's no need for that sort of destruction

How old was that building? It looks in too good of condition to tear down.Figure the place could have been used for something else.The lights would have been good for light collectors.If they were taken down before the place was wrecked by the demolition excavators-a few bucks could have been made by the city or the demolition company.If the debris went to the land or rubble fill-if the fixtures were old enough they could have had PCB caps in their ballasts.

Daaamn. The building indeed looks in perfect condition

If they wanted to use the area for something else, totally could have save the ligths, but not only that. Look at all the wood used in the roof. Thats few 100's trees right there. It was all in excellent condition and could be reused

Zarlog really sorry that happened to you. Many a collector has been through similar heartbreak. Something better will be around the corner.

How old was that building? It looks in too good of condition to tear down.Figure the place could have been used for something else.The lights would have been good for light collectors.If they were taken down before the place was wrecked by the demolition excavators-a few bucks could have been made by the city or the demolition company.If the debris went to the land or rubble fill-if the fixtures were old enough they could have had PCB caps in their ballasts.

The building was built in 1969, and closed in 2006 because of high maintenance costs. i think it was something with the refridgeration systems, and they claimed it would cost "2 million $" to fix it. Well, people complain about how their aren't enough hockey arenas in MN, so it would have probably been more beneficial to the community to fix it. 92 million is a heck of a lot cheaper than a few billion needed to build a new one. About the wood, I agree it is a huge waste too. When the building first closed, it was in great condition. However, over the years, vandals trashed it so much that it had to be locked and boarded up. After that, it just started falling apart because of the damage the vandals caused.

@Blake, Have you ever seen a vintage fixture get destroyed like this? By the way you say it, it sounds like it.

By the way, at the beginning of the video, that is a pic of what it used to look like.
In this picture

you can see a better pic of the highbays.
What's sad, is that it used to be privatly owned and if I had an interest in lighting the, maybe I could have had the chance to save the m250r1.

Also, the city claims they will be doing new "housing developments" at the site, which I really doubt.

Before the place was wrecked-were the team signs at least saved--and yes,,NICE ceiling lamps there.Sad the place was vandalized and lack of maintenance.I find it hard to beleive it would cost that much to fix the rink cooling system.Think a contractor was giving the city the "double talk"!I feel the "city" would be partly responsible for the lack of maintenance to the building.Guess its time some city comissioners be voted out!

Before the place was wrecked-were the team signs at least saved--and yes,,NICE ceiling lamps there.Sad the place was vandalized and lack of maintenance.I find it hard to beleive it would cost that much to fix the rink cooling system.Think a contractor was giving the city the "double talk"!I feel the "city" would be partly responsible for the lack of maintenance to the building.Guess its time some city comissioners be voted out!

Of course the team banners were saved. Why did they remove the banners but destroy the highbays that loads of lighting collectors would have loved to have? Also, about this "housing development" thing, they took away and destroyed someone's privately owned vet clinic, just to build a HUGE apartment complex that is about 10 feet from the highway and peoples back yards? Plus, it's blocking the sun on most people's gardens, so they won't be able to really grow anything (unless they had MH or HPS lights, of course) At least someone cared enough to film part of the demolition.
Anyone know who made the highbays? I noticed that they had an unusual reflector design, with vents cut into the reflector itself.

Anyway, here are some pics of what's left of the building as of today.
In the pic, you can see one of the parking lot floods (with a MH shoebox replacement) overlooking the sad sight. Sad knowing it's probably only a matter of time before they get knocked down and destroyed too.

Anything interesting in that part that sorta remained ?

Though i think it would be very dangerous going under it now, not worth it to save a light

Good the banners were saved,the lights could  have been saved,too along with other parts of the building.Besides "flashoholic" light collectors many greenhouse operators and hobby growers go for surplus HID lights to use them as grow lights.Plumbing and other electrical fixturwes could have been saved-they could be reused.I don't think there would be much worth saving in that rubble pile!!SAD!!!It is kinda sad a building that is part of the community and still could be worthy is torn down for a what seems like a poorly placed apartment house complex.Yup,the garderners thre could have used those lights to grow their plants with since the proposed apartment building would cut off the natural light supply.That just seems like a poor place for an apartment home-doesn't look like a residentual area.When I have bought surplus HID light fixtures from contractors in my area-the contractors asked if I had a greenhouse.I told them I was a light collector.They were sort of flattered and would call me if they found any other HID lights.Got a few that way.And sometimes greenhouse operators would sell some when they got new lights.The lights are often advertised in the want ad magazines here.

There is an IDF training site called "camp 80", in which i had my military training few years back

It is a "village" of buildings and empty areas, including many dorms of various types, technical rooms, shooting range, massive vault for weapon storage, amphitheater, couple conference halls, warehouses, dining room, parking areas....

The place itself is sorta awesome - Very green and "natural" looking for a military site. And not much paved, which i like too - Many dirt tracks and "shotcuts" between any 2 points

It was incrementally built since the days of the founding of the state (in the 40s) and have many buildings from building "waves" in the 40s, 60s/70s, 90s, and early 2000s, All placed in like a scatter, with a lot of "wandering area" between them

It is now scheduled for complete demolition to build a living quarter in its place. They dont plan to save nearly any of the existing buildings, roads, or trees



I think a lot of its facilities could be used for living quarters if thats what they want to do with it :

Big empty places where there were tent and trailer parks can be used for building high rise houses

Various facility buildings can be reused as is

The shooting range is one huge hall - and could be used as some sort of hall - that would have its very distinct character with the massive exposed-concrete structure riddled with bullet holes

The weapons vault is a massive well built vault - A building for a bank could be constructed around it

The dorms could be made into an hotel or office building

The warehouses could be turned into "big box" shops

The dining room could be partitioned, leaving the kitchen and a section of the hall next to it to act as a restaurant, the rest of the (very big) hall partitioned into a few shops creating a mini mall for small shops



Electrical infrastructure in it dates for the most part to the 90s (looks like that was the biggest overhaul the place had)

Lighting outdoors is a mix-match of 60s..70s Mercury and 90s..2000s HPS. Most of the Mercury lanterns were very worn out (greened Polycarbonate bowls), but all the HPS were in fantastic condition

Lighting inside buildings is nearly all from the 90s and 2000s (looks like in the 90s overhaul they upgraded all the previous indoor lighting in existing buildings too) Switch Start Fluorescent, with some Perfect Start fluorescent and little MH



Nop, instead of making an awesome town, with everything that would be required in a town, with standing-out military heritage that followed our state since its founding, they just want to wipe it flat so that it can be built over with some architect's boxes....



One thing i can say though. This place came to my mind from the ghost related discussion in the off topic. The place indeed have some "haunted" feeling to it. Would be interesting if "stuff gets happening" in the quarter that would be built there.....



Some pictures :

http://xnet.ynet.co.il/architecture/articles/0,14710,L-3107640,00.html

The pictures are mostly of the 40s buildings, but there is the 60s dorm there too (the 3 floor structure), and quite a bit of 90s construction which is in good condition

The 40s buildings a few are of questionable structural integrity, but most are perfectly fine and only need a renovation

Yes, there are still quite a few good things that could have been saved from what is still standing. 12 more highbays, unusual looking wallpacks (I have pics that I will find later), and a cooling tower. If they were to remove and sell all this stuff, they could probably make a decent wad of cash.

Here are more pics:
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=3804

A similar story; there was a building that actually I used to work in that was a jail building and it had been vacant for a few years. After they finally got around to begin demolition, I emailed the demolition company asking if it would be possible to get some of the old floodlights mounted around the top edge of the roof and since they had to remove the elevator shaft first from the top, they were already working on the roof area. The only reply I got from them was "I'll look into it" and I never heard back so when I drove by after the walls had been knocked down, I saw some of the smashed lights on the ground.

Those companies just don't care, they just care about selling it for scrap.