Demolition has officially begun and workers are knocking out walls on all floors, as well as removing stucco additions, air conditioning and the front entrance.

Demolition begins!

The walls come down, then the ducts

You can see from one end of the building to the other

The 5th floor has been completely cleared out and measures 100 feet by 300 feet–nearly the size of a football field!

5th floor completely cleared out

The stucco additions on each side of the front entrance that were added in the early 1980’s are now being removed. The stucco tower to the left of the front door is in the process of having its “skin” removed, and the tower to the right of the front door is currently being used as a debris chute and will be removed in coming weeks.

Left tower stucco addition being stripped

The air conditioning has been removed. The 300 ton, concrete base chiller contained steel rebar to support the chiller on the exterior of the structure. This area will be replaced by the retail promenade along the entire ground floor.

Steel rebar inside chiller

Where the air conditioning was removed

The existing front entrance is also being removed. The new entrance will be installed in the same location, which was originally the water tower for the former factory.

The next step will be replacing windows with hurricane proof panels. Check back for more updates.