By JONATHAN MILLER
<http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=JONATHAN%20MILLER&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=JONATHAN%20MILLER&inline=nyt-per>
Published: April 30, 2006
ASBURY PARK, N.J., April 29 — The building, if you could call it that,
was a rusty empty box near the Boardwalk that didn't even have a name.
It was known simply as C-8, for its place on the tax maps.
Since C-8 had become a symbol for the failed efforts to revive this old
resort on the Jersey Shore, its demolition on Saturday was supposed to
herald a determined rebirth.
But after the booms of 91 pounds of explosives had sounded, and after
the thick clouds of dust had cleared, part of C-8 remained stubbornly
upright.
"That thing is still fighting," said Tom Patten, an ironworker from
Oakhurst, who earlier in the week helped remove steel spandrels from the
bottom of C-8 in an attempt to weaken it. "They have a bigger mess now
than when they started."
Doug Loizeaux, vice president of Controlled Demolitions Inc. of
Maryland, the company that oversaw the implosion, said there was too
little weight to pull down the structure because it was not a finished
building.
"There was one portion that was 45 feet in the air," he said, but he
noted that after a few hours of work with a crane, "Now it's flat on the
ground."
"This is an historical event for Asbury Park," Mayor Kevin G. Sanders
said in a statement released earlier in the week. "As a lifelong
resident, the C-8 structure was a failure of the past and I will be
happy to see it taken down."
But C-8 was itself supposed to usher in a bright future for Asbury Park.
It was initially part of a $500 million project that was approved in
1986. The developer, Joseph Carabetta of Meriden, Conn., promised to
build luxury condominiums and renovate the Paramount Theater, the
Convention Hall and the Casino nearby.
None of that happened.
Union strife, a fading housing market, the bankruptcy of Mr. Carabetta's
company, court fights and other problems ensured that the building was
never completed, and its rusting skeleton has stood, a block from the
water, for more than 15 years.
After the debris is cleared over the next couple of weeks, Metro Homes,
a Hoboken developer, plans to build a twin-towered 224-apartment
building on the site.
Although city officials had predicted that the demolition on Saturday
morning would be watched by thousands of people, only a few hundred
showed up.
Some stood on cars. Many brought cameras, cellphones and video recorders.
Members of a crew that had just finished making a feature film entitled
"Asbury Park" said they had taken shots of C-8 and it figures
prominently in the movie.
A woman and six children spread a picnic blanket out on a weedy lot. At
a minute after 7 a.m., a child glared at the structure and yelled: "Do it!"
The implosion came a few minutes later, and the blasts startled the
crowd that had gathered a block away. Most of the building sank like a
stack of dominoes.
It took 14 seconds.
The crowd cheered.
But when the smoke cleared, many were surprised to see that parts were
still standing. About four floors of the northeast corner remained, and
a five-story section listed precariously at a 45-degree angle.
The demolition was part of a new effort to revive a city, once
celebrated for its Boardwalk and gaudy amusements, that went into a long
decline after race riots in the 1960's.
For all the widely shared hopes for renewal, however, loud disagreements
remain over how to proceed.
Several property owners have been resisting attempts to condemn
buildings earmarked for reconstruction, like the Baronet Theatre, a
nearby deli and a bowling alley. The property owners have taken the city
to court, accusing it of "eminent domain abuse," but officials have
scoffed at their claims.
"They bought after the redevelopment deal was signed, and they knew that
these properties were going to get taken for the redevelopment," said
Councilman John M. Loffredo, who pushed the signal box to begin the
implosion. "They're businessmen. They know what they're doing. What more
can I say to that?"
Some business owners have also complained that the new development will
lack entertainment and amusement, attractions that made Asbury Park what
it was.
Mr. Loffredo countered: "Times have changed. I'm just saying all that
honky-tonk is not what we're going to be putting back there."
As he watched cranes picking over the wreckage, Kevin Feehan, 48, an
owner of the nearby Wonder Bar, reflected on the significance of the
day's events. The city still is far from completely back, he said, but
there is reason for hope.
"This was like getting Al Capone out of Chicago," he said. "It didn't
stop the crime, but everyone felt good about it."
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