Demolition of Carson City’s Kinkead building proceeds

Crews from Advance Installations and Las Vegas Demo worked through the Veterans Day holiday gutting the old Kinkead Building in preparation for tearing down the concrete and steel frame.

Workmen are using Bobcats hoisted to each successive floor to tear out the walls, wiring and everything else that isn’t a main structural support. They started from the ground floor and, this weekend, were ripping out the fifth floor of the building once described as the worst office structure the state ever built.

Kinkead now looks like a skeleton structure except for the top floor.

Workmen used the Bobcats to simply push the trash over the edge, letting it fall into what was the parking lot where a crane has been loading the debris into trucks so it can be hauled away. Public Works Director Gus Nuñez said all the concrete and rebar along with a large percentage of the interior materials will be recycled.

Advance Installations won the job for $926,307.

Nuñez said imploding the building — the wish of some of its former tenants — turned out to be much more expensive.

Once all of the floors have been gutted, contractors plan to bring in a specialized machine that will mechanically crush the steel and concrete frame of the building.

Nuñez has made it clear he wants Kinkead gone by the time he retires Dec. 15.