Macon, Georgia, is set to ring in the year 2025 with a dramatic spectacle. The Macon-Bibb County Commission has approved a project to demolish a vacant 16-story hotel, with the implosion scheduled to take place at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Last year, Macon-Bibb County acquired the hotel for $4.5 million during a federal bankruptcy process. Following the recent decision, the commission agreed to engage a demolition contractor to carry out the explosion for a budget of up to $2.6 million, as reported by local media outlets.

Macon’s Mayor, Lester Miller, confirmed the city’s intention to demolish the property, stating, “We acquired this property to blow it up,” while also noting the hotel’s long-standing issues. Since its opening in 1970, which even welcomed celebrities like Elvis, the hotel was never able to achieve financial stability.

In a significant turn of events, the New York Banking Department took control of the hotel in 1991, linking it to a fraud and money-laundering scheme associated with the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. This bank was infamously involved in illicit activities, including helping to conceal oil profits for Saddam Hussein and financing arms deals with Iran under the direction of Oliver North.

The hotel, formerly known as the Ramada Plaza, is situated on the edge of downtown Macon, just a block from the Ocmulgee River, but has remained unused since its closure in 2017. Although designed by the distinguished architect Morris Lapidus, known for his work on Miami Beach hotels such as the Fontainebleau, the current condition of the building renders it unfit for renovation, according to Mayor Miller.