RALEIGH, NC – In a bittersweet moment in Raleigh history, Two Hannover Square (aka the BB&T Building) was imploded Monday to be replaced soon by the grocery store chain Publix Super Markets. Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane was pleased with the city’s decision.

“We’ve long needed a decent grocery store in downtown Raleigh and once we heard Publix showed interest in that particular parcel, we moved quickly to make this happen,” Mayor McFarlane announced.

Demolition crews worked fast to place explosives that toppled the 429-foot tall building into a scatter of rubble. Employees who worked in the building were given the weekend to remove belongings.

The vacant lot at the future site of Charter Square made a convenient location and direction to bring the building down. Cleanup should take several weeks.

Several NC State students didn’t miss the opportunity to grab a souvenir. Twitter reports of a giant “&” symbol sticking out of a Tucker Residence Hall window were confirmed as a deeply gouged sidewalk scraped all the way from downtown were visible. “What’s better than a big Ampersand?” said an unidentified student.

Downtown resident Tad Lenefee weighed in, “I could see the BB&T Building from my balcony at night. But it will be nice to not have to drive all the way to the Cameron Village Harris Teeter or that Kroger on Six Forks.”