We were given an exclusive tour of the complex Thursday morning and it wasn’t what I expected. I thought I would walk through the concourse and actually be inside the building. Obviously I haven’t been paying attention because for the past three months demolition crews have been taking the 465,000 square foot building apart piece by piece.

The arena is now down to its oval structure, its walls crushed and windows removed. (Click here for photos) The will call and ticket offices are gone. Only a few bricks remain. More than 90 percent of the structure is being recycled.

The shell of the arena consists of the upper level stands, the roof and the steel columns to support it. All the concrete that once surrounded the area has been crushed and is piled on what was once the floor where the Bobcats played their last game in 2005.

And did you know the implosion will make history? Sunday will be the first time a building goes down with stands and the roof at the same time. In the past it has been done in sections.

Crews are working to place all the explosives in the 250 columns. On Sunday you will hear a series of explosions, but nothing will happen. That’s because that was just the switches igniting. There is a half second delay between each switch and it will start in the back by the loading dock and work its way around both sides to the front along 26 columns. Crews are shooting about 150 columns in the 500 column structure. One copper pipe with explosives can cut more than an inch of steel.

The public can watch the implosion from two parking lots in the arena from a few hundred yards away. While crews don’t want people to come to site, they still expect a few hundred people to show up.

It will take approximately 12 to 13 seconds to bring the entire structure down. The implosion is set for 10 a.m. Sunday. It will take another four months to level the ground where a park will eventually sit on the exact spot of the coliseum.