Saturday was demolition day for the clock tower at Milwaukee’s transit center on Michigan Street.
Contractors say a lot of planning went into demolition day.
As the sun was rising and traffic was quiet, crews lined up their equipment and began to torch cut the only standing steel columns onsite.
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“Our demolition contractor actually torch cut the columns and had a piece of equipment on the northside of the buildings, kinda holding it as a lever....and then once all the columns were cut...they tipped it over and everything went real well," said Dan Wess, a project manager.
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Within seconds, the clock tower was removed. The space is now clear for a multi-million dollar project in its place.
The frigid temperatures kept crowds away yet there were a few passionate people - those against the planned development and those for it that showed up.
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“Having worked downtown for a while now and living downtown, it's kinda cool to see everything go up the way that it is now..so I wanted to show my mom here some of the developments that are happening,” said Devin Rosas.
As a young professional who walks around downtown during his lunch hour -- he couldn’t be more excited for the development at the lakefront.
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“It's pretty cool to see a couple more buildings now other than the US bank building,” said Rosas.
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Not only do developers, plan on replacing the transit center with a skyscraper with residential space. Inside the future - couture - there will be restaurants and shops -- interwoven into the lakefront with pedestrian and transit access for people like Rosas.
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“I think they did a good job of balancing between the parks and allowing the city to grow and I think it is going to be great for the city overall,” said Rosas.
