Spectators awed by implosion of historic Detroit hotel
DETROIT -- In less than a minute, a historic former hotel in Detroit came crashing to the ground on Saturday.
First came sounds that resembled firecrackers. Then booms like fireworks.
Then, the bottom of the historic Park Avenue Hotel in Detroit's Cass Corridor started to collapse, and its 13 stories quickly fell to the ground like pouring rain amid plumes of white, brown and gray dust.
"Oh my goodness! Look at it!" said Doris Day-Bert, 62, of Sterling Heights.
Officials said 200 pounds of dynamite were used to level the 252-room building. People lined the sidewalks near the hotel armed with cameras, cell phones and iPads to document the event.
"It was quick. It took so long to set something up and so fast to do it," said Colin McConnell, 39, who lives in Midtown and stopped to see the implosion on a bike ride.
The implosion was part of plans to clear space for a new Red Wings arena and entertainment district, which is set to open by September 2017.
Gallery: Historic hotel implodes in less than a minute
Spectators were perched in the Fox Theatre garage and historic preservationists, some of whom fought to save the building constructed in 1924 by noted architect Louis Kamper, congregated nearby.
"It was a tough moment for me," said Amy Elliott Bragg, president of the board of directors of Preservation Detroit, who watched the implosion from a rooftop in Corktown.
The Detroit Historic District Commission voted to level the vacant former hotel last month.
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