Check out this video of a Renascent demolition contractor crew taking down the old St. Mary's Hospital smokestack:
The 200-foot brick smokestack is the tallest structure on the Public Safety Complex reconstruction site. It seems even taller because it's positioned near the top of a hill.
The smokestack once was used to handle the emissions from the hospital's original coal-fired boilers, which were later converted to burn diesel fuel.
Renascent is using a crane to hoist a robotic arm that's jackhammering and felling the old bricks, a few at a time. A drone is flying overhead, putting eyes on the smokestack from afar and allowing an operator on the ground to precisely maneuver the robotic equipment.
If you're yearning for a big bang and a dramatic Hollywood implosion, you'll be disappointed. But the slow brick-by-brick takedown is a lot safer and controls where the thousands of bricks land. A steady, methodical demolition also avoids creating a huge dust cloud.
Here's another video, which provides a great visual of all the work that's been done this year on the site, and illustrates how the vacated hospital campus is being revitalized:
At the start of the video, you'll see the three buildings that are being repurposed to house City Police, Fire administrative, City Court, Pension System and some E-911 operations. From left to right, they are the former Women's Pavilion, the white Central Wing Annex and the triangular Professional Office Building.
In the foreground is the hospital's parking garage, which will remain.
As the video continues, the Magdalen Clarke Tower (right) is being repurposed by Lincoln Memorial University as a nursing education facility. Classes will start in January.
In the center is the iconic and stately 1929 Building, which is being preserved. Nearby is the smokestack, which is steadily being demolished. Additional obsolete buildings to the north of the 1929 Building will be razed, to make room for future private investment.