ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - After nearly a decade of lying abandoned and empty on along Jamestown Road and Highway 67, a once popular north St. Louis County landmark is finally coming down.
Tuesday marked the official start of the demolition of the Jamestown Mall, the once popular shopping center in Florissant, Missouri that closed its door back in 2014.
Kevin O'Malley with the Port Authority said he was looking forward to the demolition of the building for quite a long time.
"I use this as a real milestone of 'now what are we going to do?'", said O'Malley, "Where are we going to go to make this place a place that makes sense in this community?"
Plenty of local St. Louis officials were at the ceremony for the demolition which is included the like of St. Louis County Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, State Senator Brian Williams and others.
However, the demolition of the building was overshadowed by the drama that preceded it.
Webb called out Missouri State Senator Angel Walton Mosley during a speech ceremony before the demolition, and accused the senator from the 13th congressional district of resisting efforts to try and get funding for the deconstruction of the mall.
Mosley immediately denied the accusations by Webb, calling the accusations 'ridiculous in lies'. Mosley called upon Williams to attest they worked together to get funding from the state for the project.
KMOX News tried to catch up with both Webb and Mosley after the ceremony to discuss the incident, but neither wanted to continue discussion regarding the topic.