AMG DEMOLITION & ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE, INC

Successfully Completes Another Challenging Project by Safely and Strategically Bringing Down 450 B Street in San Diego

By Brian Hoover, Senior Editor

Mike Gafa Sr. started AMG Demolition & Environmental Service, Inc. (AMG) with his wife Annette in 2002. As a WomenOwned Business Enterprise (WBE), AMG offers turn-key demolition services. They provide structural, interior and selective demolition, asbestos and lead remediation, along with general contracting, earthwork and mass excavation services. They have completed hundreds of projects throughout the Greater San Diego area and at a national level. Their work encompasses everything from the demolition of single-family homes, to the complete dismantling of massive structures like the San Ysidro International Border Crossing.

AMG was contracted by prime contractor, Hensel Phelps Construction Company, in 2009, to make room for new construction at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry (SYLPOE). Phase 1b consisted of the demolition of more than 100,000 square feet of existing buildings and the handling of approximately 80,000 cubic yards of earth. This massive undertaking included the complete deconstruction of the Port’s 45,000 square foot main building of operations. AMG’s primary challenge was to dismantle this 50-foot high structural steel building while 50,000 vehicles passed daily from Mexico into the United States directly underneath. Mike and team began with the abatement of asbestos and lead, followed by salvage operations. AMG also erected a tower crane to dismantle the steel roof section, which they completed within an impressive six-week period. The entire demolition project was performed between 2009 and 2012. SYLPOE is the busiest land port in the world, and AMG safely and successfully completed all of its demolition and remediation duties while avoiding disruption of the Port’s 24/7 operations.

Picture of existing 45’ tall tiered office building structure to be demolished.

Mike Gafa Jr. is one of the owners at AMG, along with his mother, father and brother. He and his brother, Justin, grew up working for their parent’s company through high school and eventually joined the family operation full time. “My father has been in the construction business for around 45 years, and was a home builder for 20 of those years back in the 80s and 90s,” says Gafa. “He started AMG in 2002, after working for other demolition companies, with a view toward taking on the more challenging projects that other firms often choose to ignore. This certainly includes the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry project, as well as the 450 B Street project we are currently on in downtown San Diego.”

Gafa points out that his brother Justin is the Operations Manager for the company and joined the family business at its inception in 2002. Mike Gafa Sr. is the company’s President, Mike Gafa Jr. is the Vice President, while Annette Gafa performs the controller, accounting and finance duties. Mike Gafa Jr. joined the company in 2005, and both he and his brother have worked as laborers, heavy equipment operators, and job superintendents. Mike now primarily manages the estimating and project management end of the business. “We are not much for titles here at AMG. We are an extremely family-oriented, handson business, and we all wear many hats,” says Gafa “Each of us are committed to doing whatever it takes to get the job done safely and properly, and always to our customer’s 100% satisfaction.”

Top 3 Pictures: Precision sawcutting and demolishing of 3 levels of existing parking garage structure for the installation of the Tower Crane for new construction.

450 B STREET DEMOLITION PROJECT

AMG is currently involved in another challenging project in downtown San Diego known as the 450 B Street Project. The prime contractor on the job is C.W. Driver Companies, out of Pasadena, CA. The overall project encompasses the design, demolition, remodel, and construction of a new coreshell, 88,278 square foot, six-story office building. The demolition and structural foundation work being done on the existing structure requires shoring, along with maintaining access to the parking garage for the adjacent tower during construction. “We have been tracking this project for five years and maintained close contact with C.W. Driver,” says Gafa. “We are always

Excavation of Mat foundation 10’ deep at the bottom level of the existing parking garage. 3,000 CY of soil was trucked out from the bottom to street level.

the first ones in, and we work hard to preserve our relationships and get budgets out to our clients early.” AMG was selected for the abatement, remediation, and demolition portion of the 450 B project and began their work in Jan. 2020. The 450 B jobsite is a 30,000 sq. ft. footprint that includes a three-story underground parking garage. At the street grade, there is a one-story portion up to 15-feet high at 30,000 sq. ft. and then another 12,000 sq. ft. footprint that is tiered up to 45 feet in height. “Our scope of the work was to take that entire 30,000 square foot structure down from street grade, in addition to the 45-foot tiered portion,” continues Gafa. “We are performing all of this demolition and remediation work while the underground parking structure remains live and open to the public.”

Wide shot of demolition operations showing the existing deck slab being demolished.

Brokk 300 and operator demolishing 8” slabs and 3’x3’ grade beams on the tiered portion of building.

45’ tall tiered section of the building being demolished in a “top-down” method with Brokks.

Gafa explains that the tiered section at 450 B Street was around four stories high, while the ground level structure reached about 15 feet in height or around a story and a half. “We always begin with the asbestos removal and general abatement process. When that is cleared by the third-party consultant, we begin the interior demolition,” says Gafa. “This particular structure is all concrete, and we have gutted all the soft materials like drywall, conduit, and HVAC before we could begin the hard demo process.” AMG began attacking the structural demolition in the underground parking garage at the same time they were doing the selective demolition for the tower crane that was being installed right through the middle of the existing structure that AMG was demolishing. “We were asked to sawcut a 20’ x 30’ opening on all three levels for a tower crane that was being installed for construction of the new six-story high-rise building,” continues Gafa. “We were also contracted to dig the Mat foundation at the bottom level. This was 10 feet in-depth and required us to export around 3,000 cubic yards of dirt to the surface with forklifts equipped with custom buckets. It took an hour and a half to load just one truck load.”

Gafa says that point load or weight issues contributed to the long list of challenges on the 450 B Street project. “The maximum weight we could place on these decks is around eight to 10,000 pounds,” says Gafa. “Due to location and weight constraints, we couldn’t just bring in 100,000 lb. excavators and start ripping the building down. We demoed using the a top-down methodology and went with the Brokk 300 remotecontrolled demolition robots that weigh in at around 8,000 pounds.” The Brokk 300 is gaining in popularity with many demolition contractors who like them for their impressive power, reach and stability. “I have really come to love these Brokk 300 machines. For years, I have known about them and finally fell into the right circumstances to use them over the last year or two. They hit very hard and are the best machines for point load issues. We currently own four units and will most likely be adding more in the near future.”

Komatsu PC138US LC-8 hydraulic excavator sorting and loading out construction debris. Orange spray paint line delineates the underground parking garage below.

According to Gafa, AMG began breaking concrete from the highest tier, which was around 45 feet off grade. “We broke the slabs and fell the debris to the slabs below that were protected with tires, plywood and steel plates,” says Gafa. “While this was going on, we had skid steer loaders and mini excavators picking out debris and sizing the material. This included separating the rebar and processing the concrete, steel and other materials. We repeated this same process on the next three levels.” Gafa points out that AMG also used Komatsu 33,000 lb. excavators wherever they could. “Our entire laydown area was only around 12 feet wide and 100 feet long from street corner to street corner. We have a large fleet of Komatsu machines and we used our PC138’s, along with skid steer loaders to load the containers,” continues Gafa. “We have been going with Komatsu for more than seven years now and feel that they are the perfect machines for general demolition.”

According to Gafa, the 450 B Street project has been another challenging project for AMG. “This job is located in a downtown San Diego setting and is also partially open to the public. That would make many demolition contractors think twice before bidding. Protecting the public and our employees is always our first and biggest concern,” says Gafa. “We have done a ton of work in downtown San Diego for decades where height is always an issue. Combine this with the logistics of moving machinery and materials in and out, along with getting all of the material down safely and you can see why there are only a few select companies, like AMG, willing to take it on.” By jobs end, AMG will remove around 8,000 tons of concrete, 300 tons of metal and another 1,000 tons of various other construction debris with an approximately 85% recycle rate.

AMG has a healthy backlog of jobs coming up, including the demolition of a 60-foot high, 40,000 square United States post office. They also have several select interior demolition jobs scheduled and recently completed the Horton Plaza Mall demolition. AMG spent an entire year clearing more than 100,000 square feet of space on this mall project. They will also be on a multi-year plan for McCarthy, where they will be removing two towers, among other structures at the Sharp Mary Birch Hospital in San Diego. One of AMG’s largest and most highprofile contracts was to demolish two existing structures at the existing Navy Broadway Complex. The demolition was necessary to kick off the $1.3 billion Manchester Pacific Gateway project in San Diego’s downtown waterfront. Building #12 represented the larger of the two structures and was built as a Navy storage facility during World War II. The 60,000 sq. ft. footprint stood 136 feet tall and included 10” thick concrete slab floors and 3 ½ feet interconnecting shear walls. AMG implemented a floor by floor demolition method where they craned in small to mid-sized equipment. They also removed (150) 10’x10’, 5-foot thick pile caps with more than 1,500 piles removed by job completion. All of the construction debris was sorted, segregated, and recycled to produce an overall recycling rating of 99.2%. AMG currently remains on the site where they are moving more than 800,000 cubic yards of dirt for Turner Construction.

Komatsu excavators ranging from 33,000 lbs. to 165,000 lbs. demolishing Building #12 that stood 136’ tall at the Manchester Pacific Gateway Project. Over 50,000 CY of concrete was processed and recycled.

AMG has developed longstanding relationships with some of the most reputable contractors in the nation. They are also proud to provide services to several government bases, including MCAS Miramar, MCRD, Camp Pendleton, Naval Amphibious Base Seal Base, North Island Coronado, Submarine Base Point Loma, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Kirkland AFB in New Mexico and many more. The company has grown from humble beginnings in 2002 when they had around 20 employees to scaling over 130 dedicated team members. “One of the main reasons for our success is the people that work here at AMG. We have the best in San Diego. From laborers and foremen to our amazingly skilled operators, we handpick each one and do our best to keep them here throughout their career,” concludes Gafa. “Doing what we say and getting it all done safely and without excuses is what we are all about, and this is what will carry us into the next 20 years of success.” For more information on AMG Demolition and Environmental Service, Inc., please visit their website at www.amgdemolition.com or call their San Diego headquarters at (619) 501-7427. Cc