NEW ORLEANS —
The City of New Orleans is now reviewing a new plan for the partially collapsed Hard Rock Hotel Construction site, and it’s one that calls for a more conventional demolition as opposed to an implosion as originally announced, according to New Orleans Fire Dept. Chief Tim McConnell.
On Tuesday night, the building owners, 1031 Canal Development LLC, released a statement about the new plan.
“After continuing consultations with multiple leading experts in the field and numerous test models, 1031 canal development, LLC has been advised that a demolition by implosion will result in a debris field extending well beyond the perimeter of the building, endangering the nearby area,” the statement said.
McConnell confirmed with WWL-TV that New Orleans officials have received the plan and that they're reviewing it.
“Our engineers are looking at that plan,” said McConnell. “It will be vetted heavily. There is a very strict permitting process.”
Massive chunks of the building came down on October 12.
A month after that, 1031 Canal Development LLC said in a statement that an implosion was the safest method to bring down the building, but Tuesday, the owners said demolition, picking it apart from the top down, would have less of an impact.
“The area that was going to be affected was not really acceptable,” said McConnell. “It was going to affect too many of the other buildings around. Remember we are in the historic French Quarter here.”
The building owners also say the new plan is better for the recovery of the two bodies still inside and would allow them to start earlier. The clean up, however, will still take months.
“This plan — if it’s approved gets permitted — is projected to start seeing some movement here as early as next week,” said McConnell. “This plan, as we saw it today, is still a plan that looks like it will take well over six or seven months.”
We asked University of New Orleans engineering professor Dr. Norma Jean Mattei what she thinks the new plan might look like.
“It can be risk but taking it down piece by piece, so they would have to start at the top,” said Mattei. “They’ve got the pancake sections that need to be stabilized and removed, and then, they can start taking it down from the top down.”
The collapse has created a mess for neighbors, business owners and drivers, leaving people asking why so many changes and why so drawn out?
“One of the questions we get asked the most is why so long," said McConnell “I want to be clear. No matter how great the plan is and even if it’s 100 percent ready, there is an evidence protocol that is being vetted by all the concerned parties right now. That takes time and that has not been done. That has to be signed off by a judge. (This is) running parallel in getting the plan together.”
The application for the demo permit has been filed. The building owners expect to formalize the plan and start demolition as soon as safely possible. What that all means for businesses, neighbors and the traffic is still unclear but you can likely expect an ongoing mess for several more months.
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