Club Med is no more.

As can be seen on Royal Gazette video, the former St. George’s hotel, which stood derelict for two decades, finally thundered to the ground at 10.20 a.m. today.

A huge blast signalled the Island’s first ever implosion and it took less than 15 seconds for the 28,000 tonnes of concrete to collapse in a massive pile of dust.

Hundreds of people came out to watch, film and photograph the historic event including on-lookers on scores of boats and jet-skis in the Narrows Channel.

Premier Ewart Brown and Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess, who once worked at the hotel as a bartender, each pressed a button at Fort St. Catherine to start the implosion carried out by Demolition Dynamics, a subsidiary of US firm DH Griffin Wrecking Co.

One local resident Shorty Churm, whose green house on Naval Tanks Hill was one of the closest to the 11-storey structure, said he had mixed emotions. “It has not been maintained and it has just deteriorated. It used to be a great place and then all of a sudden it was an eyesore.”

Another resident who came to watch, Roderika Freeman, said: “That was so heart wrenching. I have very fond memories of that hotel.”

Dr. Brown said: “It felt great. There was a feeling of relief and it was just amazing to see the connection between a button and the building going down.”

The implosion marks the start of a new era for the site, which will now be developed by Bazarian International as a new hotel and fractional units complex.

* See tomorrow's Royal Gazette for full coverage of the Club Med implosion with a video of the demolition and picture special.

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