From tower to rubble: Former Key Bank building falls Saturday as part of Downtown Rising
Early Saturday, as most Utahns enjoy their weekends sleeping late in quiet bedrooms, some 36,000 tons of concrete, steel and glass will come crashing down at the heart of the Downtown Rising revitalization project.
If all goes according to plan — and lightning is about the only thing that could stop it — the old Key Bank tower, 50 S. Main, will become the first Salt Lake City building to be imploded in nearly 25 years. It's coming down to make way for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' City Creek Center development, which is on schedule for a mid-2011 opening.
And while much of the city is abuzz about the pending dramatics, certain to be a spectacle for anyone who manages to find a vantage point for the 6:45 a.m. show, construction officials want to drive this point home: It's an implosion, not an explosion.
"By all stretches of the imagination we're not blowing up the building," said Doug Loizeaux, vice president of Controlled Demolition Inc., which is managing the implosion.
In fact, it's not even a true implosion, which occurs when interior pressure is lower than external pressure and a building is crushed from the outside. Instead, the 20-story building is simply going to fall in on itself — with the help of some explosives.
"That's a lot of bang for your buck," Loizeaux said.
Crews have notched internal support columns on the building's fourth, seventh, 10th, 15th and 18th floors to weaken them. On Saturday, explosives will be placed at key points in the tower's basement, second floor and 10th floor, at nine spots on each floor.
When those explosives are detonated — in a southwest-to-northeast sequence — they will take out support beams, leaving the compromised columns with too much weight to bear, and the building will come tumbling down.
Loizeaux estimates about 90 percent of the building will end up in a 35- to 40-foot heap on the building's footprint, although crews hope to direct the collapse slightly to the southwest.
"The building wants to come down," Loizeaux said, noting that gravity will be the driving force behind the collapse. "It wants to come straight down."
But as controlled as the implosion will be — and officials say it's a very controlled process — there are always variables that could make for a dangerous situation. After all, a 290-foot building is falling to the ground in 16 seconds.
So, police will cordon off the surrounding area — from North Temple to 200 South between State Street and 200 West — starting at 1:30 a.m. Saturday. It won't open again until the dust has settled and it is deemed safe, which could be as little as 30 minutes or as long as four hours after the implosion.
Recent comments
Hey Joe nice comment......,
are you Joe that visit Holland in...
jeroen niesink | Jan. 7, 2008 at 8:27 a.m.
great article but no mention of the most important fact. when????...
joe andreini | Aug. 18, 2007 at 12:14 a.m.
The area could be closed for up to four hours after the implosion...
Anonymous | Aug. 17, 2007 at 2:20 p.m.
