NYC blows up building to make way for new park

NEW YORK— New York City officials have blown up a vacant building to make way for a new park.

The 11-story brick apartment building on Governors Island formerly housed Coast Guard families. The Trust for Governors Island said the building has been vacant since 1996 and does not meet current building codes.

The implosion just after at 7:30 a.m. Sunday took about 10 seconds. It was overseen by the city Fire Department and the Department of Buildings.

Governors Island, a longtime military base, is in New York Harbor off the tip of lower Manhattan. The city now controls the island and is redeveloping it, with some of it becoming parkland.

The island was open to the public Sunday as normal after the implosion.

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