Map Showing Restricted Areas For The Capital One Tower Implosion In Lake Charles

The tower is coming down! This Saturday, September 7th, 2024 the skyline of Lake Charles, Louisiana will look a lot different by 9:00 am because, at approximately 8:00 am Saturday, the Capitol One Tower in Lake Charles will be taken down.

Lake Charles without its staple in the air, the 22-story building towering over the downtown Lake Charles area, will be strange. It is crazy to think that the tower has been up in Lake Charles since the early 80s. The tower once known as the CM Tower when it opened in 1983 will no longer be the hallmark of the Lake Charles skyline.

It is crazy to think that back in 1981 when construction began on the building it only cost 45 million dollars to build to skyscraper but the damage caused by hurricanes Laura and Delta caused over 100 million dollars in damage. It shows you the difference in today's money versus 1980s money.

The tower has 22 floors and from the ground to the sky it stands 314 feet and has 400,000 square feet of office space. Now that it is coming down and once all the debris is removed, there will be a four-acre empty lot there because that is how much land the tower took up including its parking lots and attached parking garage.

Here is what it looked like in its glory days.

Are you planning on watching the implosion? There are certain areas of downtown you will not be able to be in to watch it due to safety.

The areas of downtown you will not be allowed to be in include Veterans Park on Lakeshore Drive to the Lake Charles Event Center and you can't be on the front lawn of the Lake Charles Event Center on Lakeshore Drive.

Then Lakeshore Drive from Memorial Park to Pujo Street, Broad Street to Ryan Street, and it continues South on Ryan to Price Street will all be blocked off. You will also not be allowed to park your boat in the back of the Lake Charles Event  Center.  The Lake Charles Police Department and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office will be enforcing the closed-off areas.

Here is a map of where you can't be Saturday morning.

Places you can watch the implosion include the I-10 Beach, the south side of the Lake Charles Event Center by Millennium Park, and if you want to take your boat out and sit in the middle of the Lake.