University Towers Implosion: Watch 400 Pounds Of Explosives Work

AUSTIN, TX — Those sleeping in at West Campus might have been abruptly awakened from their Sunday slumber by the unmistakable sounds of dynamite. Relax, sleepyheads: The loud booms came from the implosion of the old University Towers student housing complex.

The 50-year-old structure along the 800 block of West 24th Street was demolished on Sunday morning to make room for a pair of complexes dubbed The Mark at Austin and The Standard at Austin for future housing of University of Texas at Austin students, as the school's student-run newspaper The Daily Texan previously reported.

Several people gathered as close as allowable to catch the sight of the implosion, and the sound of the blast was heard for miles — as far as Pflugerville, according to some reports. It's the first building implosion of this scale since the demolition of the 40-year-old Ashbell Smith Hall building demolition on Colorado Street in March 2018. That old UT-Austin-owned building is being replaced with a 36-story, 670,000-square-foot office building with 3,500 square feet of restaurant space and another 4,300 square feet of retail area.

Previous construction already has begun on The Standard following construction of a garage last January. Developers Landmark Properties Inc. said construction on The Mark and The Standard is expected in 2023 and 2021, respectively, according to the report.

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Developers told the newspaper The Mark at Austin will comprise 15 stories housing 287 apartments with encompassing 975 beds. The Standard will be two stories taller with the same number of units and capacity for one less bed. All told, the new spaces will house 2,000 residents and encompass 8,000 square feet of retail space, according to the report.

The Austin Fire Department set up a camera at the scene to catch part of the demolition. Although the angle was largely obstructed, the footage yielded a glimpse into the ferocity of the implosion. After 50 years of life, the building was pulverized in just 11 seconds thanks to some 400 pounds of dynamite.

>>> Austin Editor Tony Cantú contributed to this report.