Driving through Laurel this morning, I wasn’t sure if the old blue American National Bank building would still be standing or not. It was, but the view was quite different… I could see through half of it. Although, admittedly, one almost doesn’t even notice the building with those gas prices, but I digress.
I took a few shots from both sides of Rt. 198, and some from the parking lot of Gorman Plaza:
But apparently, my timing was off by just a smidge. My friend John Floyd II visited the site shortly afterward, and while taking photos, he realized that the backhoe excavator driver wasn’t beating around the proverbial bush. John quickly switched to video as he saw the claw begin pulling on the crossbeams. He captured this brief clip, which shows the first significant collapse of the old building:
John spoke with the foreman, who stated that he expects the entire building to be down by this Thursday—if not sooner. John also adds:
“The building housing Mango’s Grill and Cash Express closed yesterday and the next one to be pulled down is Irene’s. A crew from Canova Construction are disconnecting the water and sewer lines and will have to re-configure all the storm drains for the new complex. Two containment ponds will be added right about where Irene’s Restaurant is standing now.”
Many thanks to John for sharing his video, and the following photos:
Lost Laurel 