Demolition begins Monday on a portion of Cardinal Stadium at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Workers will take down and salvage the stadium’s metal bleachers. The entire stadium has fallen into disrepair and engineers hired by the state have recommended all of it be torn down. But Amanda Storment with the state fair board says the financing for that is not in place yet.
“We’ve estimated that just for demolition alone, it would cost $3 million to take the entire stadium down”, Storment said. “So that will wait on funding.”
The original stadium was built in 1955. Its grandstand was declared unsafe by state inspectors last year.
Storment says a master plan is being put together for the entire fairgrounds facility that will include recommendations for the stadium space.
The facility, built in 1955 and formerly called Fairgrounds Stadium, has been the home of Louisville’s minor league baseball teams and University of Louisville football. More recently it has been used for the Kentucky State Fair’s free concerts.
