Implosion failure leaves ‘leaning tower of Dallas’

The former 11-story Affiliated Computer Services building in Dallas was scheduled to be brought down via implosion the morning of Feb. 16 to make way for a 27-acre, $2.5 billion development project. However, the 300 pounds of explosives deployed by Dallas-based Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition weren’t enough to complete the job, leaving the elevator shaft still standing, albeit leaning, at the site, NBC News reports.

“It lost its momentum and settled back down. It’s not going anywhere right now,” Steve Pettigrew, president of Athens, Georgia-based Pettigrew Inc., told NBC News. Pettigrew Inc. is one of the demolition contractors tasked with working on the project.

Pettigrew told reporters that the building, consisting of a concrete and steel core, “undressed itself” too quickly during the implosion and that “the skirt came off the core” thanks to timing issues.

The result of the failed first implosion is a standing edifice 35 feet shorter than the building’s original height, tilting at 15 degrees. While the elevator shaft is “safely contained” within the site, according to Pettigrew, the remaining structure has been dubbed “the leaning tower of Dallas” by a number of news outlets. The shaft will be brought down via wrecking ball within a couple of days, according to the team’s contractors.

Watch the video of the failed implosion below courtesy of NBC News: