NEW ORLEANS — The developer of the partially-collapsed Hard Rock Hotel on Canal Street says it is ready to start demolition as soon as this month and accused the city of holding up any progress on that plan.
1031 Canal’s comments come after the city attorney accused the company of not submitting a detailed demolition plan for approval by a Thursday evening deadline.
The developer did, however, submit to the Safety & Permits Departments answers to 37 questions about the plan. That document was provided to WWL-TV.
The hotel collapsed Oct. 12, 2019, killing three people and injuring dozens more. Two of the bodies of the men killed in the collapse are still inside the wreckage.
1031 Canal has pushed the city to approve another change in the plans to take down the partially-collapsed building after months of back-and-forth over whether explosives would be used to bring down the building or if a traditional piece-by-piece demolition would be safer.
The developer has now contracted with Kolb Grading for that demolition.
“Kolb is prepared to mobilize at the site immediately after Easter, even before the permit is issued,” a statement from 1031 Canal on Friday evening reads. “The project is fully funded.”
Sunni LeBeouf, an attorney for the city on the matter, said they still can't move forward without a chance to look at the demolition plan, which is says 1031 has not submitted more than six months after the collapse.
"They certainly are NOT waiting on the City's response, as they do no have, and have not submitted, a demolition plan... Apparently all deadlines are artificial, as 1031 Canal has had six months to finalize a contract and move a demolition plan forward, and unfortunately, we are all still waiting.”
The city has argued a traditional demolition would endanger more lives, but D.H. Griffin, which was expected to dynamite the building, has said it can only get a $22 million insurance policy when that work would require a $50 million policy.
Griffin is now suing 1031 Canal in federal court to get out of its agreement.
But the latest change back in plans – back to a traditional demolition – isn’t sitting well with City Hall.
In a new court filing in the case that pits Griffin against 1031 Canal, the city blasts the Hard Rock’s developer, writing that the company’s “unwillingness to pay for a safe demolition at the Collapse Site is evidenced by the fact that it now purports to seek the City's approval for a fifth demolition plan.”
“If you are abandoning moving on from the most recent plan because of money and money alone, let’s solve that money problem before we move on to a new plan,” Ramsey Green, the city’s deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure, said during a recent interview.
In an email to nearby businesses posted online Friday, the developers attacked the city over what it called “lies” about the status of the hotel's demolition.
They denied that the hold-up was because of insurance costs, but also asked the city rhetorically further in the document whether they would be willing to pay the tens of thousands of dollars to make up for the insurance exposure the implosion would put them under.
Instead, they outlined their newest plan, which they said would be submitted by April 22.
In that plan, Kolb would demolish the building over the course of half a year.
In that timeline, the demolition would finish around the 1-year anniversary of the tragedy.
1031 Canal said the traditional demolition has already been approved by the insurer.
More Stories:
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
