See the implosion and its aftermath along with some historical photos of the South Shore Hospital. And a bonus video of the implosion of the old Floridian Hotel across the street at the end of this story.
Galbut who pushed his vision for a tall tower with a resilient City park on the old hospital site told the crowd gathered to watch the implosion, “I wanted something different, something that would be more resilient and something that would provide our community of West Avenue and this entire area with a chance for a real park… This is the first new park in Miami Beach in over 50 years.”
Introducing Martin, his new partner on the project, Galbut said, “I, for one, am very proud and very happy to be sharing this opportunity and this obligation with David Martin.”
Martin, thanking Galbut and his family, noted, “This is 14 years of hundreds of community meetings looking for ways to develop, create an amazing gateway for our community and for Miami Beach and, at the same time, provide the right green space and the right type of product that we can be proud of and see the future of what development looks like in Miami Beach.”
“I think this is what we’re talking about guys,” Martin added, “having capitalism to solve some of society’s needs. The tax revenues of this project will generate more than $3-400 million of bondable capacity for this city to be able to invest in infrastructure and quality of life.”
Mayor Dan Gelber earlier this year challenged the community to come together to get rid of the old hospital that has stood vacant for more than a decade and create a better development option than what had been approved for the area. “First of all, I just want to thank this community that decided it wanted to take this area and get rid of an eyesore and do something that would be meaningful. I want to thank the developer. I want to thank my colleagues who decided we weren’t going to sit around and let this thing stay as it is, the way it’s been.”
“This has to become the renaissance of this community,” Gelber said. “Today we’re going to get rid of this horrible eyesore and we’re going to replace [it with] a beautiful three-acre park because one thing these people all have in common is they do not have a backyard and now they’ll have a wonderful place to share experiences with their families, with their children, with their neighbors and this is the beginning of something really special.”
“This is exactly what makes sense for this area of our city so we couldn’t be more excited about the future and about the renaissance of this neighborhood,” Gelber concluded.
Galbut and Martin then joined Gelber in the countdown and pushing the ceremonial button to bring the building down. In various videos, you can hear the explosives begin to go off before the building collapsed in a cloud of dust.
Video of the remarks from the developers and the Mayor as well as the building demolition from the angle of the Baptist Health Center rooftop courtesy Andres Asion
Mitch also forwarded this 1987 video of the implosion of the old Floridian Hotel which was located across the street. Its attribution is unknown.
