OCEAN TOWER IMPLOSION: Photo Gallery

Click on the photo to the right to view a photo gallery of the Ocean Tower implosion. Photos by Valley Freedom Newspaper photographers Jame Colburn, Nathan Lambrecht, Dina Arevalo and Maggie Denney.

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The 31-story Ocean Tower condominium building was demolished by implosion on Sunday, Dec. 13.

Construction on the luxury condominium building was halted in the summer of 2008 after it was determined that the building had experienced differential settlement of approximately 14 inches, which results in cracks in the beams and columns of the structure. Ocean Tower is currently involved in a lawsuit against geotechnical and structural engineering firms for the design of the building.

Controlled Demolition Inc. of Baltimore was contracted to demolish the building, which was the tallest steel-reinforced structure to ever be imploded. It was also the youngest.

Facts about the implosion:

-- Weight of the building was approximately 55,000 tons.

-- 1,550 pounds of explosives were used in the implosion.

-- There were approximately 3,000 explosive locations in the building.

-- Approximately two miles of detonating cord was used to initiate the explosives throughout the building.

-- The explosives' detonation velocity was 18,000 feet per second.

-- Detonation was be done by a non-electric system, which was selected out of concern for static electricity from wind-blown sand at beach locations, the possibility of lightning from thunderstorms and the high level of radio frequency energy that will surrouond the site before, during and after the imposion.

--At 378 feet, 9 inches above adjacent grade, the Ocean Tower's building's height eclipses that of the current record for the tallest reinforced concrete building ever imploded, as reported in Engineering News Record. That height includes a distance of 58 inches from adjacent grade to the top of the first-floor slab and has allowed for the 14 inches of subisdence by the structure.

-- During a nine-week period earlier this year, the building was gutted of all internal elements down to the bar concrete shell to ensure that such materials would not be blown around the demolition site following the implosion.

-- More than 2,800 lineal feet of three-quarter-inch diameter stell core cables having a tensile strength of 35,000 pounds were installed to help Controlled Demolition Inc. control the fall of the structure.

--In November, CDI modified the stairwell and elevator cores with explosives. CDI conducted small explosions to blast relief openings in those walls and drilled holes in the remainign walls where nitroglycerin-based explosives will ber placed for the implosion.

-- More than 98 percent of the above-grade materials used to build Ocean Tower either have been or will be recycled or reused, including most, if not all, steel and concrete.

-- Crushed concrete from Ocean Tower will be used as base material for new parking areas for Beach Access Roads 3 and 4. Cameron County plans to lay the concrete in the spring before paving the lots.

-- Prior to the implosion, a showroom was set up south of the building site to sell high-quality building materials and fixtures at reduced costs, much of which has been sold to South Padre Island residents.