They finally imploded the C-8 building in Asbury Park, as I talked about last week. Here is the video I took, via youtube:
I took a ride down, getting down to Asbury Park before six this morning. It was a wild scene to watch unfold – a ton of people came out to watch, including a lot of the NYC news media and a few of the local radio stations. There was an eight block area blocked off, so I was in the grassy park area near Kingsley between Fifth and Sunset. I was able to get as close and they would allow and I had a good view of the implosion.
For those that aren’t familar with Asbury Park, this construction on this building started in the mid to late 80′s. After 12 of the 16 stories of the building were up, the developer went bankrupt and the land had sat in tax/governmental/political limbo until a few years ago. After the area near Cookman Ave and Main Street had undergone redevelopment, development finally began on the oceanfront area. However, this building still stood as a reminder of what the city once was and overshadowed all of the good going on in the area.
The implosion of the building is a very monumental step forward in the redevelopment. The eyesore is gone and I am very interested in how the city is going to unfold after this.
Here is a recent article from the Asbury Park Press talking about the past and future of the building. And here is another quick article on the Asbury Park Press website about today’s events.
And finally, here are photos I’d like to share. The first is a photo I found that I took on March 29, 2002 that shows how the C-8 building used to look. The rest of the photos are from today’s events.
