Final demolition began at 9 a.m. this morning (Monday, Dec. 8) on the Wheatshocker Apartments building, clearing the way for the first new building of Wichita State University’s planned Innovation Campus.

The site will eventually become the WSU Experiential Engineering Building, a new $37 million, 108,600-square-foot facility with labs, offices and high-tech equipment for entrepreneurs, students and researchers. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2015.

A livecam of the demolition is available at wichita.edu/livecam.

When Wheatshocker Apartments opened in 1965, it was on the cutting edge of modern student housing. Instead of traditional college dorm rooms, the development company that built it gave students a choice of versatile apartment-like settings, all within one building.

In the fall of 1994, WSU President Eugene Hughes proposed buying the dated apartments to "make a new building out of an old building." With an investment of about $11.6 million in revenue bonds, the university gutted the six-story, U-shaped building and replaced virtually everything.

The building served as a major campus housing facility through the end of the 2013-14 school year, when it was replaced by a new residence facility, Shocker Hall.

Visit wichita.edu/innovation for more information about WSU’s Innovation Campus.