1031 Canal Development, by Thursday evening, had failed to send the city a detailed demolition plan, despite a request from the city attorney to do so after a recent Civil Court hearing.
In a letter obtained by WWL-TV, city attorney Sunni LeBeouf on Tuesday wrote that 1031 Canal must turn over “an actual demolition plan, as stamped by a licensed engineer” by the close of business Thursday.
She wrote that instruction was “pursuant to the court’s instructions.”
LeBeouf wrote that so far the company had only submitted “a skeletal outline with vague descriptions of demolition work.”
“The city is unable to respond to an incomplete permit request where no detailed demolition plan, as stamped by a licensed engineer, has been provided to date,” a City Hall spokesman said Thursday evening.
LeBeouf also asked 1031 Canal to answer questions from the Safety & Permits Department. That document, with the questions answered, was provided to WWL-TV on Thursday afternoon.
1031 Canal is hoping the city will approve a change in plans to take down the partially-collapsed Hard Rock.
That comes as D.H. Griffin, the company that was expected to implode the building, is suing 1031 Canal in federal court to get out of its agreement.
The problem, Griffin argues, is that it can’t afford a premium for the $50 million insurance policy that would be needed to dynamite the building.
But the latest change in plans 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.
He said the city doesn’t care what company takes down the Hard Rock. Officials only care that it comes down safely, that no one else is injured or killed and that the city doesn’t pay for it, he said.
“As you well know since Oct. 12 when this building fell, we’ve had numerous challenges facing our city financially,” Green said, noting everything from the cyberattack to the outbreak of COVID-19. “We’re holding pretty firm on ensuring that the folks who built this, who own it, have to pay to take it down.”
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