NEW ORLEANS – On Thursday, 1031 Canal Street announced they have reached a deal with the City of New Orleans.

During Thursday morning’s Civil Court Hearing about the Hard Rock Hotel collapse site, lawyers representing both the City of New Orleans and the Hard Rock Collapse site (1031 Canal Street) said that a deal has been reached.

The city will be issuing a conditional permit for the demolition of 1031 Canal St. to proceed subject to payment.

A representative for 1031 Canal Street believes they can get demolition equipment on-site by Monday. Their plan is to build a pad for the crane above canal street, take down the crane, then deal with the victims’ remains.

It has been 188 days since the Hard Rock Hotel on Canal Street collapsed on October 12, 2019, killing Jose Ponce Arreola, Anthony Magrette, and Quinnyon J. Wimberly.

Since that time, two overhead cranes have been demolished in controlled explosions, multiple plans to demolished the rest of the ruined building have fallen through, and the bodies of Arreola and Wimberly have remained in the rubble.

The representative for 1031 Canal says that one of the early phases of the demolition of the Hard Rock is the demolition of red zone buildings. This creates a safe buffer “for persons and property.” This plan may be controversial because the “red zone” contains many historical buildings. There will be a hearing on Monday regarding this.

The City of New Orleans went on to say that their main concern is with public safety and they do not want an uncontrolled collapse. The city was also adamant that they take no assumption of responsibility for the initial collapse in any way.