NEW YORK: The former jewel in the crown of Donald Trump’s bankrupted Atlantic City casino empire was demolished Wednesday with 3,000 sticks of dynamite.

The detonator button was pressed shortly after 9:00 am (1400 GMT), reducing the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino to a pile of rubble in just a few seconds.

Closed since 2014, the casino was Trump’s first property in the US coastal gambling town in which he came to own several properties.

It opened in 1984 and has undergone little to no maintenance since shuttering. On several occasions during storms, pieces of its exterior have fallen onto the seaside promenade that runs alongside the building.

Since 2016, the two-building complex has belonged to billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who was one of Trump’s main Atlantic City financiers.