After delays that threatened to push the project into 2021, the City of New Orleans announced on Jan. 17 that the partially collapsed structure of the unfinished, 18-story Hard Rock Hotel will be brought down in a controlled demolition in late March, under a new plan to be submitted by demolition contractor D.H. Griffin Cos.

Forensic engineer brings a level head and reassuring competence to a dangerous New Orleans building collapse site

Developers disagreed with a city assessment that they were pushing back the demolition date.

Developers expect to break ground in mid-2020 on a $100 million project to completely transform a 50-year-old suburban shopping center into an open-air retail concept that will blend shopping and dining with upscale apartments and office space. The redevelopment of the 35-acre site will be one of the largest retail projects in the New Orleans metro area.

Among the challenges the project team faced were unprecedented flood threat and maintaining critical functions during construction.

When the under-construction Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans partially collapsed on Oct. 12, the initial response was one of search and rescue, as well as a dramatic effort to secure the site that led to the controlled demolition of two tower cranes.

Two unstable tower cranes at the site of the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel collapse were brought down on Oct. 20 in a controlled demolition, but work to stabilize the structure is far from over.

Two tower cranes at the site of the New Orleans hotel collapse are in worse shape than initially thought, forcing responders to reconsider how to dismantle them. An upper section of a hotel under construction in New Orleans partially collapsed on Saturday, Oct. 12, killing three and injuring dozens.

New Orleans is facing the biggest test of its post-Katrina hurricane protection system as the region is bracing for up to 20 inches of rain from Barry.