With the remains of the Hard Rock Hotel site now clear of debris, the City of New Orleans is facing a multimillion-dollar series of infrastructure repairs to fix damages that resulted from the fatal collapse of the hotel and its subsequent demolition. Three people were killed when the upper floors of the 18-story building collapsed on Oct. 12, 2019, and two victims’ bodies remained trapped in the rubble for 10 months.
The city does not yet have a final tally of the damages since repairs are still under way. But New Orleans deputy chief administrative officer Ramsey Green told ENR that the city is looking at well over $5 million in repairs to underground city utilities, streetcar lines, sidewalks, roads and streetscapes on Canal and Rampart streets. That’s in addition to roof repairs in progress at the city-owned Saenger Theatre, located next door to the Hard Rock site.