By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Crews have started tearing down the Century Building in downtown St. Louis.
The lunchtime crowd that drove or walked past 9th and Olive this (Thu.) afternoon came across a big pile of bricks and rubble in the street. Those bricks could represent the beginning of the end of the Century building.
The Century has been part of a controversy ever since plans took off in recent years to revamp the nearby Old Post Office.
The Old Post Office plans, though, call for tearing down the Century to make room for a parking garage. And developers who are rehabbing other nearby buildings say the garage is needed. They anticipate an increase in traffic in what had been for years a desolate part of downtown.
Opponents of the demolition say its historic architecture should be preserved. And they've filed three different lawsuits, challenging the plans.
(Click on an image below for a larger view.)