21st anniversary of Hudson's building demo in Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - It may be hard to believe, but 21 years ago today the Hudson's building in Detroit came tumbling down. 

On October 24, 1998, the old flagship store on Farmer and Gratiot came down in a controlled demolition in a matter of seconds. The dust cloud stretched for blocks, covering our anchors Huel Perkins and Monica Gayle in a layer of dirt.

You can watch archive footage from that day in the video player.

For years, that department store was the premier spot to shop in downtown Detroit, and was also one of the most important department stores in the county. Its heyday was in the 1950s and '60s. In fact, in 1954 Hudson's reportedly had sales of more than $163 million -- which is equal to more than $1.4 billion today.

Sales started to decline by the mid '70s, and Hudson's closed in 1983. 

Plans are in the works right now to build a new high rise development on the site. The building will be a mix of residential, office, events and retail space. Groundbreaking was in December of 2017.

Plans call for the new building to be 800 feet tall and have the first observation deck in the city. That kind of height would make it Detroit's tallest building.