ARLINGTON, Va. — The Rosslyn skyline got a little clearer Sunday morning--even if it's only temporary.
A controlled implosion took seconds to bring down the old Rosslyn Holiday Inn that had stood since 1972.
Specially engineered charges strategically placed around the hotel brought tons of steel and concrete safely down on itself around 8:00 a.m.
But Brendan Wooters puts it more succinctly.
"We saw a building literally blow up from the inside out," he said.
The ten-year-old and his dad Mark made the trip from Arlington to the Georgetown waterfront to watch the hotel come down.
"Brendan had been seeing some implosions on YouTube and decided he wanted to see the real thing," said Mark. "Pretty unique experience."
The old hotel came down to make room for the new development to go up.
Arlington County says an apartment complex with 502 units, a hotel, and a conference center will be built on the site.
The project, led by developer Dittmar Company, comes after the Arlington County Board voted unanimously in September to approve "a rezoning and major site plan amendment for this project," the county website says.
Dittmar will also invest more than $10 million in Rosslyn for transportation, green space and affordable housing, according to the same website.
But for the spectators Sunday watching the Holiday Inn's last moments, the focus was less on what's replacing it and more on how it's being replaced.
"It was loud but really cool," said Brendan Wooters of the implosion. "I've never seen anything like it."