March 2, 2020
Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition, LLC chips away at the top levels of the former Affiliated Computer Services building with a wrecking ball on Feb. 24, 2020 in Dallas. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
DALLAS (AP) — The Leaning Tower of Dallas, the nearly iconic remnant of a high-rise building implosion gone awry, finally collapsed in a cloud of dust Monday after two weeks of being whacked with a headache ball.
The tower collapsed about 3:15 p.m. after a few last whacks with a wrecking ball swung by a high-rise crane. No injuries were reported.
The tower was the core of an 11-story building that was imploded with explosives on Feb. 16. The 11 floors surrounding the core duly collapsed, but the solid concrete core containing the stairway and elevator shafts remained standing at an angle. The demolition contractor has been whacking away at it ever since with a 5,600-pound wrecking ball.
A spokeswoman for De La Vega Development, which is redeveloping the site, had said immediately after the implosion that the tower’s demolition could take up to four days. It ended up taking almost four times that amount of time before it was taken down.
In the meantime, the tower drew hundreds of people who took often-whimsical photographs of themselves with the tower in the background.
A wrecking ball smashes against the "Leaning Tower of Dallas" north of downtown Dallas, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. The still-standing structure is part of the 11-story former Affiliated Computer Services building that found a second life online after a Feb. 16 implosion attempt. The company that engineered the blast said some explosives did not go off. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
The former Affiliated Computer Services tower core shaft remains standing on Monday, Feb. 17, 2020 in Dallas. A demolition on Sunday morning left the single tower behind. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
This Monday, March 2, 2020 photo shows the remains of the Affiliated Computer Services building or the Leaning to Tower of Dallas. The Leaning Tower of Dallas, the nearly iconic remnant of a high-rise building implosion gone awry, finally collapsed in a cloud of dust Monday after two weeks of being whacked with a headache ball. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
The remains of the Affiliated Computer Services building or the Leaning to Tower of Dallas at 2828 N. Haskell Avenue after finally falling over on Monday, March 2, 2020 in Dallas. The Leaning Tower of Dallas, the nearly iconic remnant of a high-rise building implosion gone awry, finally collapsed in a cloud of dust Monday after two weeks of being whacked with a headache ball. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
‘Leaning Tower of Dallas’ endures blows from wrecking ball
February 24, 2020
Megan Dority poses for a photo with the so called "Leaning Tower of Dallas" as a crew works to topple the structure north of downtown Dallas, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. The still standing structure is part of an 11-story building that found a second life online after surviving a first demolition attempt. The former Affiliated Computer Services building inspired jokes and comparisons to Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa when a Feb. 16 implosion failed to bring down its core. The company that engineered the blast said some explosives did not go off. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS (AP) — The “Leaning Tower of Dallas,” a social media sensation born when a part of a building survived implosion, endured hundreds of blows from a wrecking ball Monday.
Dozens of people gathered northeast of the Texas city’s downtown to watch as a crane was used to batter the former Affiliated Computer Services building.But the developer now says the demolition may take days.
The 11-story building found a second life online after surviving a first demolition attempt. It inspired jokes and comparisons to Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa when a Feb. 16 implosion failed to bring down its core.
The company that engineered the blast said some explosives did not go off. In the following week, people flocked to the site to post photos of themselves pretending to prop up the lopsided tower.
The remainder of the building proved resilient Monday, and some onlookers were nonplussed by the ball that began swinging around 9 a.m.
“They’re taking the wrecking ball and hitting the side of it over and over again, and it’s still just ineffective,” Shawn Graybill, a 24-year-old who lives nearby and came out in his pajamas to watch the demolition, said Monday morning. “It’s not knocking the tower down.”
Lloyd Nabors, whose company is handling the demolition, previously said the tower was leaning in the direction it was intended to fall, and there aren’t any safety concerns. The building is being demolished to make way for a $2.5 billion mixed-use project
A Friday statement from De La Vega Development suggested the demolition would be done by noon. But the the core of the tower, including the elevator shafts, was still standing in the late afternoon Monday, and a spokeswoman said the process is expected to take up to four days.
The wrecking crew is using a 5,600-pound ball and following “standard procedure” in starting at the top of the structure and working down, said Missy Wyszynski.
As demolition work took place, an online petition to “save this landmark from destruction” continued to draw signatures. Graybill said he hasn’t signed but plans to if the tower doesn’t tumble soon.
And as the effort to topple the structure stretched into the late afternoon, people began to take another genre of photo — pretending to push the tower over rather than prop it up.
loisa Alvarado poses for a photo as she and friends watch the demolition of the so called "Leaning Tower of Dallas" as a wrecking ball works to topple the structure north of downtown Dallas, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. The still standing structure is part of an 11-story building that found a second life online after surviving a first demolition attempt. The former Affiliated Computer Services building inspired jokes and comparisons to Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa when a Feb. 16 implosion failed to bring down its core. The company that engineered the blast said some explosives did not go off. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
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