MD Anderson Cancer Center's HMB Will Meet It's End...

Wow, a part of history will be going down in Houston this morning.  

At 11:15 AM, the implosion of the Houston Main Building in the Medical Center area will be taking place.  A building I visited several times over the past 4 years.

The building formerly known as the Prudential building before the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center purchased it in 1972 was the first high-rise in Houston outside of Downtown.  It was built in 1952, and has meant a great deal to many Houstonions.  I've only lived here 10 years, but I can tell by reading some of the stories online, how much the building meant to them.  

Looking at its rich history, the building at once had beautiful landscaped courtyards, swimming pools, tennis courts, and the building itself was made of limestone and steel.  Many people opposed the demolition, more-so the preservationists, but it would have been too costly to repair the already sinking building, and MD Anderson decided in 2002 to demolish it.

How the building affects me?  Well, I work in the Dan L. Duncan building, previously called CPB (Cancer Prevention Building).  The building is a few feet from the HMB, and was only two years old when I started working at MD Anderson.  I had the honor of taking classes in the HMB building, and completed my database training in there as well.  It was a lovely building, and it was even more lovely, because you could feel the history when you walked in that building.  This morning will be bittersweet, because a building I literally walk by every day will be gone tomorrow morning when I head into work. [source]
  
From the MD Anderson Website:

MD Anderson's Houston Main Building (HMB) was opened by Prudential Insurance Co. in 1952 as its southwest regional office. At the time, the 20-story office building was Houston's tallest building outside downtown.

In 1974, MD Anderson purchased the 500,000-square-foot facility, which included 22.4 acres of land and a surface lot containing hundreds of parking spaces. The University of Texas officially named the building the Houston Main Building in 1980.

The acquisition of the building allowed executive and other administrative offices to move from the hospital to HMB to accommodate the expansion of clinical space.

Over the years, MD Anderson updated and renovated some floors to support specific functions, and the expansive parking area was used for new construction.

The last employees moved out of HMB March 2010; the building was officially closed April 1, 2010. After its closure, contractors began the interior demolition and abatement of the building.

The master plan calls for the site to serve as the home of a new clinical building that would connect the Dan L. Duncan Building and the Lowry and Peggy Mays Clinic.

Existing terraces on Floor 2 of these buildings will extend to the new facility, forming a courtyard above five floors of underground parking.

If you click on this link, you'll be able to watch the demolition live, 15 minutes before the event.