ASU official reveals details on Concho Hall demolition, will not be imploded

After having stood tall since the 1960s, ASU’s Concho Hall is coming down. ASU Facilities and Services are currently working on the conventional demolition process to take down Concho Hall. 

Concho Hall was a dormitory at ASU from the 1960s to 2017 and held around 400 students. It was accompanied by University Hall which was imploded on Oct. 25, 2009. 

The implosion of Concho Hall was discussed but later turned down due to the expense and the location of the building. Workers have begun with interior demolition, including taking out all the scrap metal. Afterward, a long-reach excavator will be used to take parts off of the building and place them directly into a dump truck to get rid of them. The excavator will begin at the top of the building and work its way down. 

After the building is taken down, the plan is to put in grass and, within the next five years, build an Innovation Hub for research.

ASU will be funding the project with housing and state-allocated funds, but plans to ask the Texas Legislature Board for a Capital Construction Assistance Project, which is a revenue bond used for institutions of higher education. These institutions must use the bond towards major construction or renovation projects that plan to further education on their campuses. 

The planning on what to do with Concho Hall began back in 2011 after the implosion of University Hall. ASU Facilities and Services first planned to implode Concho Hall and build more pods, expanding the Plaza Verde dorm, but decided it was not the right time, instead deciding to do minor renovations to make the building more habitable with the hopes of eventually creating new housing. 

This plan remained until 2015 when it was time to go forward with the plan by order of the fire marshall’s codes. By the end of 2017, students were removed from the dorm because, per the new code, upgrades were needed. 

In 2019, the plans to renovate were set in motion. While interviewing architects for the project, the COVID-19 pandemic began, effectively shutting down progress. As remote learning led to fewer students living on campus, and ASU was now only able to fit 200 to 250 students in the dorm due to the new codes, it was determined that the return on investment would not be worth building more housing, so the renovation was canceled.

The decision on what to do with the building was never final. Concho Hall soon became a liability after squatters moved in and the fire codes became outdated. It was determined that the building could not be used as offices, classrooms or labs with its low ceilings and overall footprint, so it was decided that the whole building would be demolished. 

“It’s the end of an era, it’s kinda sad to see but…now we're doing other things that are…awakening a new era,” said Cody Guins, ASU’s executive director of Facilities and Services.

ASU’s facilities department just completed two projects, the ASU Women’s Soccer Clubhouse and the ASU Police Station. They are currently wrapping up the Carr Hall project and plan to have the Bell Tower completed sometime in April. Some new projects in the works include the Golf facility, which will include a short game golf course of all synthetic turf, a Golf Clubhouse and a new lighting project has begun near the CAF, where from the Massie Hall to the Centennial dorms, new light poles will be installed. There will also be further renovations to the auditorium in the Administration Building and a 14,000-square-foot facility for the ASU Aviation Training program will be completed sometime in January 2025.