A group of high-rise buildings have been sitting unfinished in a Chinese city for seven years. And it took 45 seconds to tear them down.

Stunning footage from the demolition last month showed 14 buildings in the southwestern city of Kunming collapse in controlled demolition. The blast failed to destroy a 15th high-rise, which was torn down three days later, local media reported. 

These partially-built buildings were a side effect of China’s aggressive urban development model that created what critics called “ghost cities” in parts of the country. Local governments had sold land and embarked on massive infrastructure projects to boost economic growth, while developers often took on heavy debt to bet on ever-rising housing prices. 

Some of the vacant neighborhoods filled up later on, but in some cases, the newly-built, dazzling urban spaces struggled to find occupants or even funding to finish construction projects.

Construction of the Kunming complex, named Sunshine City II, began in 2011. The developer soon ran out of money and was acquired by a new company. Work on the residential project stopped in 2013. 

The high-rises had been sitting idle since then. In November 2020, another company acquired the housing project’s developer along with its $3.6 million debt. Citing quality defects of the unfinished buildings, the developer applied to have them demolished to make space for new, lower-rise apartment buildings. 

The demolition on August 27 required 4.6 metric tons of explosives, installed at some 85,000 detonation points on the buildings, Kunming Daily reported. More than 5,300 residents had to be evacuated for the work, and each household received about $23 in compensation, the report said. 

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