When the smoke and dust cleared, the old St. Francis Central Hospital was gone.

The building, across Centre Avenue from Mellon Arena, had survived a demolition attempt, using a technique called "controlled collapse", last month, but it couldn't withstand today's attack by explosives.

The 10-story hospital collapsed in a heap about 2:15 p.m., following the staggered detonation of about 15 series of charges placed throughout the building's skeleton.

Following the first few booms, the building stood like a sentinel for a couple of seconds, then slowly collapsed in on itself.

When the dust blew away, all that was left was a pile of rubble.

The hospital had to go to make way for Pittsburgh's new $290 million arena.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.