Some liken the dome to a spaceship that landed in the Arizona desert long ago.
Some have speculated that the abandoned structure is inhabited by malevolent spirits, who for their own reasons spend their afterlife outside of Interstate 8, just south of Casa Grande. selected.
For the few local teenagers, they were a place to drink and hang out. A stunning canvas for graffiti artists. Headache to Pinal County.
But for whatever has happened in the last 40 years, the dome of Casa Grande is gone.
One of the four concrete and polyurethane foam buildings off Thornton Road looked a lot like a flying saucer. His other three were like caterpillars, a series of connected mounds.
After years of legal battles between Pinal County and owners Dan and Calon Pier, who purchased the property in 2006, the unusual structure was torn down on Monday.
Constructed in 1982, the building was designed as the futuristic new headquarters for electronics manufacturer InnerConn Technology Inc. However, the company went bankrupt, the factory never opened, and the site was abandoned.
The dome of Casa Grande has become an unofficial tourist attraction, with curved walls covered in street art and sprayed slogans. Despite the apparent disrepair of the building, the “no trespassing” sign did little to deter visitors.
The site was denounced by Pinal County in 2017, but Piers appealed the decision, which ensued a five-year legal battle. It was resolved last year in favor of the county, and in November the oversight board approved the demolition contract.
A spokesperson said Pinal County has a lien on the property for costs incurred in the demolition that cost $128,676 and legal costs.
Now only a pile of rubble, protected by a temporary chain link fence, remains where the dome once stood. According to Pinal County, the demolition was deliberately done quickly to prevent people from being endangered while trying to take one last look.
The cleanup will continue over the next few weeks. And on Wednesday, a handful of people stopped by to witness the final days of this Arizona curiosity.
Casa Grande couple Dianna and Kenneth Neukircher pulled over around noon to take shots of the front-end loader and excavator at work.
According to Diana, they often took visitors out to see the dome, and finally on Thanksgiving.
“I thought it was such a cool place,” she said. “I don’t like to see it go, but I also know it’s dangerous because people were out there all the time.”
Kenneth wasn’t a fan of the Dome, he said, but it was his suggestion to drive there on Wednesday.
“I read it in the newspaper and said, ‘I don’t want to say this honey, but I have to go see the dome.'”
Another bystander, who declined to give his name, said he always remembered the “eerie” acoustics inside the dilapidated building.
As he watched the machine at work, he scooped up a piece of now brittle, yellowing foam that had fallen outside the construction fence. He said he planned to hang them on his wall.
