NEW ORLEANS — The city of New Orleans says it’s optimistic about issuing permits to finally demolish the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel, but as a key deadline passed Wednesday, it still had some concerns with a contractor’s plan for the dangerous and uncertain demolition work.
Hotel developer 1031 Canal Development LLC has been seeking a permit to demolish the hotel under an $8.4 million conventional teardown contract with Missouri-based demolition contractors Kolb Grading. Orleans Parish Civil Judge Kern Reese issued a Wednesday deadline for 1031 Canal to answer the city’s concerns so a demolition permit could be approved. The owners’ attorneys sent answers, but the city wrote to the court Wednesday that key issues remain unresolved.
Principally, the city expressed concern that it didn’t have detailed enough engineering analysis of risks in the 60-foot drop zone, so it could assess what might happen while demolition crews knock down 10 floors of mangled slabs of concrete and twisted steel.
And Rachel Wisdom, an outside attorney representing the city in the litigation, also told the court Wednesday the city wants 1031 Canal Development to get $25 million in “project specific liability insurance, rather than the $16 million in general commercial liability coverage” it’s presented so far.
A subcontractor, Marschel Wrecking, also presented an additional $6 million in general liability insurance certificates, but Wisdom’s letter to the court Wednesday says the insurance needs to be more tailored to the specific risks of the Hard Rock project.
“The proposed demolition work is extremely dangerous and risky with the potential for an uncontrolled collapse or other unplanned events that could potentially cause damage to adjacent properties, utilities, and people at or near the site,” Wisdom wrote. “If this is not a significant risk, as 1031 Canal has asserted to the Court, then obtaining the required insurance should be relatively easy to accomplish.”
But in an email to Judge Reese, 1031 Canal attorney Kerry Miller said the testimony from the demolition team’s engineers at a court hearing last Thursday directly contradicts Wisdom’s claim that the work would be “extremely dangerous and risky.”
Interim City Permits Director Tammie Jackson laid out other concerns in a letter to 1031 Canal on Wednesday, including requesting additional details about crane deployment and protection for workers who must paint steel beams and columns before they’re knocked down so they can be properly identified as evidence in ongoing investigations of what caused the collapse.
The city asked the court to let the engineers hash out the remaining details, not the lawyers.
“The City urges that going forward communication relating to technical permitting issues proceed between engineers, without participation of litigation counsel,” wrote Wisdom, an attorney at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann who is assisting City Attorney Sunni LeBeouf in the litigation.
1031 Canal’s Miller said the engineers were hashing out details on a conference call Wednesday afternoon, even as the city’s lawyers were writing that the demolition plan needed more details.
But Wisdom also expressed optimism a deal could be reached.
“The City remains optimistic that all outstanding issues can be resolved,” she wrote to the court.
Judge Reese was not happy with the lack of agreement between the city and developers Wednesday and called a public hearing Thursday via Zoom on the city’s effort to enforce $5 million in code enforcement penalties against 1031 Canal.
RELATED: As Hard Rock demolition plans inch forward, preservationists worry about historic buildings nearby
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