MIDLAND, Texas — After standing tall in downtown Midland for over decades, the historic Western United Life Building will come tumbling down March 25 at 8:30 a.m.
"The implosion itself will probably take under a minute. It’s staged so the implosion debris will end up at the Northwest, in the direction of the Northwest corner of that lot since the entire block is open but it won’t be very long just a matter of seconds," said Sara Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation.
Leading up to the implosion, precautions will be taken to ensure the public's safety. This includes road closures on North of W. Wall St., South of W. Ohio Ave. between Marienfeld and Lorraine and all of Centennial Park will be closed.
"Those streets in that area will be closed off about 5 a.m. Saturday and if all goes according to planned, everything should be reopened by noon on Saturday," Harris said.
Anyone interested in watching the implosion downtown, you should examine your risk tolerance beforehand.
"This is of interest but it is still a demolition so with that mind, I would say people really need to access their individual risk tolerances. We’re making every effort to make it safe and secure but again it’s a giant building demolition and there will be large amounts of dirt and dust at the minimum," said Harris.
"If anyone does decide they want to watch there will be large amounts of dust so protective eyewear and a dust mask would be advised and then also parking will be limited to the areas outside of the implosion zone and it’s quite possible can get dirty as well."
According to the City of Midland, the debris on site will be about 18 in. above the sidewalk and is expected to take six to seven weeks to clear.
If you at home are interested in watching, we have you covered here. You can head over to our app, NewsWest 9+, Saturday morning where we will be live streaming the event.
To watch our special covering the history of the building, you can click or tap here.