At exactly 8:30:00 CDT Saturday morning, explosive charges went off and a 12 story building that has stood abandoned for about 40 years, dropped quite cleanly into its own footprint, leaving a historic theater and another iconic building across the street fully unscathed.

Here's several videos of the event captured from various camera angles, and also from a drone. There is a long 8 minute one that started about 2 minutes, 30 seconds before the first detonation, and continued until all the dust settled enough to see the rubble pile that only stands about a story high in the center.

Demolition of Western United Life Building highlights 2023 Midland Development outlook https://youtu.be/SG-Gxy2KVOE

Midland Development Corporation moving forward with building demolitions https://youtu.be/GT6q_iMbkSA
Western United Life Building will be demolished March 25 https://youtu.be/aaOd2UxHF_A
Western United - The Life It Lived (NewsWest 9) https://youtu.be/8xjuRJvLbTc
What will happen to the Western United Life Building in Downtown Midland https://youtu.be/WiPKeGUlwYM

A Midland Staple Gone - The Western United Life Building gets imploded https://youtu.be/qEPMwrNSArA
Demolition day for the Western United Life Building https://youtu.be/w9c08UVc--I

Midland Savings Building Implosion https://youtu.be/TOkke7zRxk0

WATCH LIVE - Demolition of the historic Western United Life Building https://youtu.be/rMzAQnxrcdQ
Western United Life Building Demolition https://youtu.be/9sgR1EfKM2s
Western United Life Building Implosion DRONE VIEW Midland TX https://youtu.be/A4sLYV37VCE
Western United Life Building implosion from the Double Tree ledge https://youtu.be/t0LkP7pD-a0

Why did they demolish a historic building? It’s quite dramatic!

Is there such a thing as a heritage designation in the United States? We have it and it prevents old buildings from being demolished, and severely restricts how they can be redeveloped....double edged sword. 

Historic in what content?

If it was just an old building that has been abandoned and not used any more... without any historical meaning... other than it was an old building... why keep it around when it's just taking up dead space that could be used for the betterment of the city?

Now if it were a historical relic... (i.e. They fought off the Alamo from the top of the building... (* CHUCKLE *)... then the dead property should be converted to something more usable than just an abandoned building that nobody enters any more.

FWIW

We do but it must have historical value. It’s a complex process.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm

I don’t know but I like to see old buildings renovated whenever possible. 

Sorry, heritage>historical, same idea. It's similarly complex process here as well.

Do you think legal protections for historical buildings (heritage) should be so stringent as to prevent redevelopment (renovation)? This is what we're facing here and frankly it's somewhat turned me off the idea of heritage status.

Yes it sounds the same here as there.

I guess not. We need more housing, desperately and it’s not happening. But most of that is due to influential landlords affecting public policy. It may not be true in other places but in my state, a huge majority of those are liberal Democrat NIMBYs.