Old Warehouse Demolished

More than a ton of dynamite turned the 72-year-old former Sears catalog warehouse building into a huge pile of rubble Sunday.

Hundreds gathered to watch the nine-story landmark collapse in a huge cloud of dust. It took about 20 seconds for the building to fall. A U.S. Postal Service mail center will take its place.

“I think it’s a shame to take down such a landmark,” said Teresa Polito, a mail processor at the main post office downtown. “I think in a few years they may realize they needed that big building.”

About 1,600 jobs will be moved from the main post office to the new plant, leaving about 250 employees downtown. The project will cost $84 million.

The building, with 1.5 million square feet of space and a two-story water tank on top, closed in 1993 when Sears ended its catalog operations.