[slidepress gallery=’oshaugnessy-demolition-31110′]

A giant claw started tearing down the walls of O’Shaughnessy Hall at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to make way for completing construction on the Anderson Athletic center and beginning construction on the new Anderson Student Center.

“We’ll pull the exterior walls down, expose the bearing structure, and start taking the structure down,” Construction Manager Jim Brummer said. “That will take about a week to complete and then they’ll start hauling out the debris, which will take about another week.”

Brummer said Carl Bolander & Sons Co. is contracted to tear the 70-year-old building down, but Opus is overseeing the entire project.

Some students woke up bright and early to catch the claw ripping down the old athletic center.

“I heard a rumor that the building was going to get demolished at 7:15,” sophomore Dominic Bouck said. “I thought it was pretty cool. I imagined a round ball so the claw was a little surprising.”

Other students couldn’t help but stop and see the damage on the way to class.

“We didn’t know it was happening,” senior Kristin Seifert said. “It’s loud and it’s fun to watch.”

Some students said they are sad to see O’Shaughnessy Hall go, but others are excited about the new facilities.

“It’s pretty interesting; out with the old and in with the new,” Bouck said. “It’s like seeing an old friend go away.”

Brummer plans to start digging for the new student center as early as mid April.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu