Controlled Demolition, Inc.
American demolition companyControlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) is a controlled demolition firm headquartered in Phoenix, Maryland. The firm was founded by Jack Loizeaux who used dynamite to remove tree stumps in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and moved on to using explosives to take down chimneys, overpasses and small buildings in the 1940s. The company has demolished several notable buildings by implosion, including the Gettysburg National Tower, the Seattle Kingdome, the Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure, and the uncollapsed portion of the Champlain Towers South condominium. The company is known worldwide for its willingness to take on projects deemed impossible, too big, too complicated, too dangerous, too political or otherwise and still pulling them off; examples include the aforementioned Kingda Ka on February 28, 2025 and the Kingdome in 2000, both of which were deemed nigh impossible to demolish safely.