Coral Gables Gazette Staff
The old girl hung on till the very end, and then some.
The much ballyhooed first ever high rise building implosion in Coral Gables is destined for the blooper reel as demolition experts miscalculated the strength of the building at 2801 Ponce de Leon Blvd. during the first detonation June 28 and were forced to go with a second detonation the following day to finish the job.
“The elevator core contained more steel than (demolition experts) had anticipated and they did not use enough explosives,” said Maria Lanao, a spokesperson for developers. “Since no unexploded charges remained inside after the first blast, they had to dig beneath the remaining section to place additional charges.”
While the video of the failed implosion and the leaning elevator shaft undoubtedly made it to newscasts across the country, Lanao said that there were no safety issues resulting from the initial miscalculation. full story
