Nearby buildings prepare for Dome blast

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Saturday morning, crews will implode what remains of the RCA Dome. It will take about 25 seconds to bring down the Dome's walls and bleachers and reduce them to rubble. As for the buildings that surround the Dome, precautions are being taken to protect them from the blast.

Inside the Ah Barista Cafe in the Pan Am Plaza building Friday, the main activity was making lattes. But outside, efforts were focused on getting the building ready to withstand the impending blast.

"They'll tape off all the windows, they're going to come in and cover them with plastic. They're putting a tarp over the outside. They're actually going to cover everything in here just in case a window would go out or something," said Ryan Stonebraker of the Ah Barista Cafe.

Stonebraker said he's confident his coffee shop will go undamaged and that he'll be back open for business Monday morning without a problem. Part of what will protect the Pan Am building, and others surrounding the Dome, is a black material draped over the outside.

The material is called geo textile. It's not very heavy or thick, but it's meant to protect the building from the blast and from dust.

"When we get over to the Pan Am Plaza, we will have fabric from three stories down wrapping the north side and the west side and all of this face of the building," said demolition manager Tom Scheele.

After the big blast, downtown will be changed forever and the view from the Ah Barista Cafe will never be the same again.

"Four years ago, when we opened, there was no sign of anything changing. And now,  tomorrow, there will be nothing there. So, within four years a lot can change," said Stonebraker.

24-Hour News 8 is providing live coverage of the implosion beginning at 6 a.m. on Daybreak and on WISHTV.com.