Watch: Crews Demolish Downtown Muskogee Building After Partial Collapse

A downtown Muskogee building is fully demolished after a partial collapse last weekend left it dangerous and unsteady.

Muskogee's City Manager Mike Miller said though it is disappointing to see the building go down, its crumbling could lay the foundation for a new opportunity.

The teardown of the old Royal Casket building started early Friday morning and Miller said the job was done in a couple hours.

“It had a lot of attractive architecture. But it was hiding a rotten core,” he said.

That rotten core gave way Saturday at midnight.

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“Police officers had gotten reports of some strange noises coming from the building behind us," Miller said.

“Less than 20 minutes later, the very corner of the building collapsed into the intersection.”

Since then, crews have worked to stabilize and then carefully tear down the rest of the vacant building.

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“A very precise sort of demolition that had to take place. There’s power lines very close to the building,” Miller said.

The building's current owner hoped to renovate the property someday. With that option off the table and a soon-to-be clean slate in front of them, Miller hopes a new development will eventually be built.

"I think it gives us an opportunity to do something better there in the future," Miller said. “The property owner was very cooperative. We will work with them on the future of that property because we want it to be an asset to the community. Now it’s time for it to make way for something better.”

The clearing of all remaining rubble will begin Monday.