The demolition of the most prominent parts of the Martin Drake Power Plant began this week. 

According to the Colorado Springs Utilities, workers on Monday began the “careful removal” of one of the old coal power plant’s smokestacks, which have been features of the city’s skyline for decades. 

“This milestone only comes after weeks of careful abatement work on the inside of each stack to protect the environment and surrounding neighborhoods,” reads the press release by Utilities. 

The power plant’s coal-burning operation shut down in September 2022. Demolition began last year. 

It will take until the end of 2024 for crews with Independence Demolition, an Ohio-based company with a Denver office, to complete the entire demolition of the aging plant.

Heavy machinery takes chunks out of one of the three smokestacks at the Martin Drake Power Plant site in Colorado Springs on Jan 24, 2024. The smokestacks rose for years over the power plant, which ceased operation in September of 2022. 

Screenshot from a video provided by Colorado Springs Utilities

The two standalone stacks are scheduled to be leveled by the end of the March. Utilities officials have repeatedly stressed that the demolition process will be slow and methodical to minimize dust, noise and potential asbestos contamination. 

In video provided by the utility, a giant machine can be seen tearing a portion of the top of one of the smokestacks down. 

Work on the second stack will begin in February, according to Utilities. The third stack attached to the old main Drake building will be removed later in the year.

The demolition of many of the structures on the site has already been accomplished. The city reports that cooling towers, scrubber building, bag houses, water tank and an an ash silo have all been razed to date. More on the power plant’s history and the demolition progress is available here. 

What’s next?

There are six natural gas generating units, which were built southwest of the main power plant complex, which will remain onsite for the foreseeable future, according to the agency. Also, a Utilities substation located to south of the old plant will stay a permanent fixture.

It is not certain what will become of the rest of the property, but the City Council, whose members also make up the Colorado Springs Utilities Board of Directors, will have the first say. 

To help inform those future discussions, the Downtown Partnership and the Legacy Institute partnered independently of Utilities to complete a 107-page visioning document compiling community ideas from a series of public meetings, laying out an expansive list of possible future options for the site, from housing to dog parks or even a solar farm.

The study includes case studies of similar land reuse projects, where environmental contamination and mitigation considerations have been factors. 

Reporter Breeanna Jent contributed to this report. 

Demolition of the stacks at Drake Power Plant in downtown Colorado Springs is underway. (Video courtesy of Colorado Springs Utilities)