Austin Officials Alert Residents To Building Implosion Sunday

UPDATE: Many people and news outlets filmed the implosion of the downtown Ashbell Smith Hall building early Sunday. The demolition became something of a curiosity for folks, especially given that there hasn't been a major implosion of a building in Austin for a decade.

This also reportedly was the biggest implosion in city history.

One person set the whole thing to dramatic music:

From Saturday, March 24:

AUSTIN, TX — A building along Colorado Street is set to be imploded Sunday morning, prompting officials to alert residents with an urgency perhaps more heightened than normal for such an otherwise mundane action. The reason: Lingering anxiety over the recent serial bombings that killed two people and injured others that terrorized the city over a three-week period.

Officials don't want residents to be alarmed over what is sure to be a powerful exploding sound. The structure being targeted for implosion is the 40-year-old Ashbell Smith Hall building at 601 Colorado St., with the action expected to take place at around 8 a.m.

As a result of the plans, the area encompassing 5th through 8th streets between Guadalupe Street and Congress Avenue will be blocked off from traffic from 5 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. The implosion itself will take a fraction of the time its advance logistics required, with the building expected to go down within 10 to 12 seconds after the detonation charges fire up.

Replacing the old University of Texas at Austin building will be a 36-story, 670,000-square-foot office building with 3,500 square feet of restaurant space and another 4,300 square feet of retail area. The building also will have an on-site gym.

Once completed, the planned edifice will be the city's largest office skyscraper, officials said. It will include 1,500 parking spaces spread among 17 floors — five of which will be underground.

Historic Landmark Commission officials said much of the historic Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall — originally a post office built in 1914 — will be preserved to be incorporated into the new building design. Construction is expected to begin this summer.

>>> Minguell-McQuary Architecture + Design has devised a rendering of a planned office skyscraper that will replace the Ashbell Smith Hall building set for demolition on Sunday, March 25.