NEW ORLEANS — First it was the legal battle between the city and the owner. Then last week it was the weather. But now that all hurdles have been cleared, some are wondering why there isn't more progress in demolishing the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel in the French Quarter.
Despite what appeared to be minimal activity Thursday at the collapse site, the demolition contractor appears to be laying the groundwork for bigger fireworks to come, one expert said.
“This is called the mobilization phase,” said UNO engineering professor Norma Jean Mattei. “The contractor is mobilizing. He's getting all of his equipment in place.”
Large wooden planks, known as cribbing, are being placed across Rampart and Canal streets in preparation to bring in more heavy equipment. The cribbing work appeared to be almost finished late Thursday.
Mattei says the cribbing will soon support massive cranes and other large pieces of machinery.
“So what you do is you put down these massive timbers that spreads the load out so the street can safely carry that load,” Mattei said. “The cranes are a massive payload, and they will be used to bring down massive payloads as they start to bring down pieces of the building.”
In order to bring down the main structure, the city granted Hard Rock developer, 1031 Canal, and main demolition contractor, Kolb Grading, emergency approval to tear down three buildings adjacent to the hotel.
The Old Post Office on Iberville was demolished last week. Two buildings on Canal, the former Alamo Theater and a smaller next to it, are scheduled to come down next.
Once those buildings are leveled, activity should start on bringing down the Hard Rock's upper floors, Mattei said.
“I think we'll see some of those pancaked section, on the Rampart side, probably start to come down first,” she said. “They really want to get those pieces that are not stable.”
Probably the first unsteady piece of the wreckage to come down will be the remnants of the tower crane that hangs over the sidewalk on Canal. The crane was partially brought down by dynamite in November.
In another small sign of progress following both the Oct. 12 hotel collapse and the city-ordered shutdown due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, Fischer’s Jewelry directly across from ground zero finally reopened this week.
The shop’s front entrance on Canal is still locked, but a steady stream of customers was coming and going Thursday from the store’s side entrance on Rampart.
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