Engineers use explosives to implode Mandarin Oriental Miami in Brickell Key

Brickell Key Bridge closes from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Engineers implode Mandarin Oriental Miami in Brickell Key

MIAMI — Engineers used explosives to implode the Mandarin Oriental Miami, a 26-year-old 23-story hotel in Brickell Key, in about 20 seconds on Sunday morning.

Swire Properties, a real estate developer, worked with BG Group personnel and Miami police officers to close the Brickell Key Bridge, which connects the man-made, triangular-shaped island to Brickell.

The bridge will reopen at 1:30 p.m. The deadline for residents to leave Brickell Key was 7 a.m. The BG Group personnel asked residents to keep windows closed and turn off their air conditioning units during the implosion.

Emergency vehicles were staged at 6:30 a.m. The vibration monitors were installed at 6 a.m.

The final setup of barricades and signage to secure the “exclusion zone” on both land and water was at 4 a.m.

The implosion will make way for the two-story The Residences at Mandarin Oriental that Swire Properties expects to complete in 2030.

Crowd gets last pictures of building

Crowd gets last pictures of Mandarin Oriental Miami

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Hannah Yechivi

Hannah Yechivi

Hannah Yechivi joined the Local 10 News team in May of 2024.

Andrea Torres

Andrea Torres

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.