And down it goes! Demolition begins on Loveland's old Home State Bank building (video)

LOVELAND -- A wrecking crew started knocking down the old Home State Bank building downtown Tuesday, and no one was more excited to watch the demolition than bank president Harry Devereaux.

"Oh wow! Whoa! Here we go," he exclaimed as a large excavator took bites out of the walls and roof of the 50-year-old building at 541 N. Lincoln Ave.

Devereaux recalled that when his late father, Jack Devereaux, bought Home State Bank in 1970, the building at Sixth Street and Lincoln Avenue was its only location.

Now Home State Bank has 11 across Northern Colorado, he said.

But far from being nostalgic, Devereaux seemed delighted with the demolition, which he drove down from his Fort Collins office to watch.

"This is actually kind of a happy day for me," he said as he stood just inside the construction fence. "This is an investment in downtown Loveland This is a good thing."

Home State sold the former bank property to the city of Loveland in 2007 for a possible museum expansion. Last month, the city sold it to Fort Collins-based Brinkman Partners, which will build a five-story, 70-unit upscale apartment building on the lot once the old structure is cleared away.

Matt Johnson, Brinkman's construction superintendent on the project, said demolition could take as long as two weeks, although by the time the American Demolition crew knocked off for the day, a good portion of the one-story bank had been reduced to rubble.

"This part's the easy part," Johnson said.

The building has concrete floors that are 14 to 16 inches thick and three vaults with reinforced walls that are just as thick, he said.

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And down it goes! Demolition begins on Loveland's old Home State Bank building (video)