The former City Hall Annex at 220 E. Bay St. is scheduled to be imploded at 8 a.m. Sunday.
On Thursday, workers prepare for the implosion City Hall Annex at 220 E. Bay St.
The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront is seen near the former City Hall Annex.
Worker vehicles fill South Market Street.
The former City Hall Annex.
The former City Hall Annex.
The former City Hall Annex.
The former Duval County Courthouse is being demolished, but it won't be imploded.
The former Duval County Courthouse property.
If all goes according to schedule, one of Jacksonville’s most historic buildings will be reduced to a pile of rubble at 8 a.m. Sunday.
That’s when the former City Hall Annex at 220 E. Bay St. is to be imploded to make way for anticipated public-private development.
The 15-story, brick and glass structure has been part of the Northbank skyline since construction began in 1958.
After the building opened for the city’s business in 1960, it was the office for thousands of city employees over the years, including seven mayors: Haydon Burns, Lou Ritter, Hans Tanzler, Jake Godbold, Tommy Hazouri, Ed Austin and John Delaney.
It’s where the city set the goal to be known as “The Bold New City of the South,” where the consolidated county and city government convened for the first time and where negotiations were hammered out to bring the NFL to Jacksonville.
When the dust settles after the implosion, the building will be gone, but not forgotten.
The contents of a time capsule sealed by Burns and his contemporaries in October 1960, including letters, photos, government documents and a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes, is on display at the Main Library.
The implosion will be broadcast live beginning at 6 a.m. Sunday by Jacksonville Daily Record news partner WJXT-TV.
