oakland city councilman larry reed said its been an eye sore. >> 167 acres of prime real estate, supposed to be 960 units of housing, 80,000 square foot of retail and about 30 to 40 acres of open space. >> reporter: first the debris must be cleared, the company behind the demolition said the concrete and steel will we recycled. >> start monday. >> reporter: this is a portion of it the shot, if you notice the -- you notice it's not flattened and -- this is what was expected. they expected some of this to still be standing. they will have to bring in equipment. they say their intent wasn't to flatten it but just to bring the walls and bring most of the structure in ward toward the center and it appears that is what happened. in oakland. ken pritchett. >> all right. now take a look at this. what are you looking at a bright green quake proof desk placed inside the building to see if it would survive the implosion. makers of the desk lifeguard structures say it's made of steel and wrapped in wood. the company said the desks were never designed to with stand a complete collapse. >> this is far

. >> reporter: excited councilman larry reed says to be pushing the button that will blast the blightnto the past making way for a new development that he believes could change the face of east oakland. >> this is the last prime 167 acres of real estate in the city of oakland for development. >> reporter: the city and residents have been pressuring the developer and its partner the bankrupt lehman brothers to get rid of the building. the countdown begins and the hospital is history. crumbling from the ground and from the air. as neighbors celebrate, fritsche is near tears. >> so many years here, so many people i knew, so many people i took care of. >> reporter: now the site's future is uncertain. there's talk of housing and a new shopping center. but developers say it's too soon to tell when. fritsche says there is nothing to do now but move forward. >> it's permanent now. it's real. it's not coming back. >> reporter: all of that cement left behind will be recycled and used for other projects. but the rebuilding won't start for several years. there's still an entitlement process that

. >> reporter: excited, the councilman larry reed, says to be making way for a new development that he believes could change the face of east oakland. >> this is the last time 167 acres of oakland for redevelopment. >> reporter: wanting it tear it down for years. finally, the siren sounds. the countdown begins. and the hospital is history. crumbling from the ground and from the air. as neighbors celebrate frich is near tears. >> so many years here. so many people i knew and took care of. >> reporter: there is talk of housing and a new shopping center but developers say it is soon to tell when. frich says there is nothing to do but move forward. >> it is permanent and real. >> reporter: the rebuilding won't start for several years. there is still an entitlement that needs to happen and the housing market will dictate just how quickly this area is rebuilt. in oakland, cbs5. >>> people living in big sur have been roughing it managing only what they can carry cut off from the outside world because a chunk of highway 1 broke off at rocky creek bridge about 12 miles south of carmel. mark say

. >> reporter: excited, councilman larry reed, says, to be pushing the button that will blast a blight into the past, making way for a new development that he believes could change the face of east oakland. >> this is the last prime 167 acres of real estate in the city of oakland for development. >> reporter: the city and residents have been pressuring the developer and it's part inner, bankrupt lehman brothers, to tear the building down for years. finally the siren sounds, the countdown begins. and the hospital is history, crumbling from the ground and from the air, as neighbors celebrate, birch is near tears. >> so many years here, so many people i knew, so many people i took care of. >> reporter: now the site's future is uncertain. there is nothing to do now but move forward. >> it's permanent now. it's real. it's not coming back. >> reporter: all of the cement left behind will be recycled and used for other projects, but rebuilding won't start for several years. there's still an entitlement process that needs to happen. then the housing market will dictate how quickly this area is

congressman larry reed says this will provide a safe mace for young people and also give a -- and alsoes out. >> next, month the raiderettes and others will start using the dance studio. there's also long-term plans to build a roller skating rink. -- a roller skating ridge. >>> let's go to sal one more time. >> oakland fire aerial company there along with rescue units trying to see if anyone is actually inside the vehicle. it could just be a vehicle, we hope with no one in it that went into the water. but they are treating it as something else. we'll have more on this coming up on the ktvu channel 2 news at noon. 8:57. let's go to steve. >>> partly sunny, partly cloudy, cooler and breezy today. still not bad. just not as nice as yesterday. we'll continue that theme into friday. all signs point towards sunshine, warmer weather. probably more sunday and monday. but it will be better as we get to the weekend. >> the allergy stuff? >> it will be high, grasses, trees, weeds, high up there. >> yeah, making a lot of people miserable. it's may on sunday. we're do for warmer weather. >> that's