Metropolitan Park’s signature performance pavilion canopy, which has covered almost every genre of musical performance that has come to town, is coming down.
The city issued a permit Thursday for Realco Recycling Co. Inc. to demolish the stage canopy structure whose official address is listed as 1406 Gator Bowl Blvd.
At a job cost of $107,126, Realco Recycling will take down the fabric canopy structure and the band pavilion, which is more than 30 years old.
The city is removing the 20,000-square-foot waterfront structure as the Jacksonville Jaguars build a new amphitheater across the street near EverBank Field.
Realco Recycling will secure the site, confirm that utilities are disconnected, and then use various equipment pieces, including an excavator, to do the demolition work.
Once demolition begins, hours will be 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Debris will be loaded into dump trucks and hauled to the steel recycling facility or the Nine Mile Road Landfill in St. Augustine.
Realco then will broom sweep the site to prepare it for future uses.
Metropolitan Park is a 23-acre park built on a former urban landfill supported by a concrete bulkhead, according to the city. The first phase in 1984 included the performance pavilion.
The city closed the structure in November citing structural problems. City Council enacted an ordinance in May appropriating $220,000 for removal of the pavilion tent.
The city and Jaguars broke ground Aug. 19 on the Daily’s Place amphitheater and flex field, which should be completed in May.
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