The remaining floors of Gabe’s Tower collapsed in one fell swoop Wednesday afternoon, leaving behind only the core of the 13-story structure.
The collapse left a large pile of debris on the ground, though City officials said nobody was injured during the incident.
Contractors were continuing to use a wrecking ball to demolish the building one story at a time. Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock said contractors expected an event of this nature, so on-site workers weren’t too surprised when the remaining floors collapsed beneath the weight of all the ones from above.
“They predicted this would happen. They honestly hoped it would’ve happened before now,” Hancock said. “There was nobody close to the structure when it fell, and there were no injuries reported.”
The building’s collapse will “substantially” decrease the time it takes to bring the rest of Gabe’s Tower down, Hancock said.
“They’ll focus on the core next and that won’t take too long at this point,” he said. “Then the crew will break up the debris and crumble it up into gravel, which will be taken off the site.”
The perimeter surrounding the worksite is secure at this time, Hancock added.
