Remember The Hard Rock Hotel?

About four weeks ago, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell had said that a contract to demolish the Hard Rock Hotel was in the making. “…. we’re closer than we’ve ever been,” she had said.

But are we? The Hard Rock Hotel was under construction when it collapsed on October 12th, 2019. Three people died in the collapse. Bodies of two victims are still in the collapsed construction. The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

Now, almost six months later, not very much has happened. After the attempt of taking down the heavily damaged cranes, one is still literally dangling over Canal Street. A date for the possible implosion of the damaged construction was pushed back from March into April. No new date has been announced so far.

Surrounding businesses have been hit hard economically due to the closure of Canal Street which is a major thoroughfare in New Orleans. Since then, officials have had a difficult time deciding how to bring down the building. A major concern appeared to be that an implosion could have negative impacts on the surrounding buildings including the Saenger Theatre. When the cranes were imploded, some windows at the Roosevelt Hotel were blown out. At last check, there is not much of activity going on at the construction site.

Right now, the already weakened businesses surrounding the construction site are yet suffering again. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the orders to close restaurants and bars, the streets in the French Quarter are empty.

This may be a good time to deal with the collapsed construction site; however, if another collapse did occur, there would be yet another potential residential health emergency and emergency personnel would be hard-pressed to respond to it.

What is your opinion? What do you think should happen with the Hard Rock Hotel Construction site?