Tons of dynamite and careful planning successfully brought down two large World War II-era buildings on Sunday to make way for a brand new distribution center in Bayonne.
The buildings sat on the former Military Ocean Terminal and were once used to launch troops and goods during World War II.
Explosions and smoke from the morning's implosion filled the skies between the peninsula and New York City. A crowd of dozens had gathered a safe distance from the demolition site to watch the excitement.
On schedule, both buildings came down around 10:30 a.m. without an apparent hitch.
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Nearly 10,000 pounds of dynamite were used to implode both multi-level buildings.
Joel Bergstein, the president of a New Jersey real estate company, said both buildings were designed to be bomb-proof.
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"You can imagine imploding buildings that were designed to be bomb-proof was a significant engineering feat. Most importantly, this is a real page turn for the city of Bayonne," Bergstein said.
UPS signed a contract to build a million-square-foot warehouse on the site that would allow the agency to use barges to ship fully loaded mail trucks to the city, saving on fuel and trucking costs.
The package distribution center is estimated to create over 1,000 jobs. Construction is expected to be complete by 2023.
