PHOTOS: Erwin Center enters final stages of demolition

Editor's note: The above video shows KXAN News' top morning headlines from Friday, April 12, 2024.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Members of the media got one of their last chances to see the remnants of the Frank Erwin Center Friday before it's fully demolished.

The demolition process on the longtime University of Texas venue began in September, after the UT System Board of Regents approved the $25 million demolition project in May 2023.

In a press release issued this week, UT officials said completion of the demolition is expected in mid-May. A UT spokesperson previously told KXAN they estimated the demolition project would be done in September.

The venue was replaced by the Moody Center, which opened in April 2022. The Erwin Center shuttered its doors that same month after hosting the Harlem Globetrotters for its final public event.

Demolition of the 500,000-square-foot arena will make way for a Dell Medical School expansion, according to UT System documents.

As of Friday, all that remained of the iconic venue was rafters, support beams, stone, and debris.