NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A hotel that partially collapsed in New Orleans, killing three people, won't be totally demolished until the end of the year, city officials said Friday.
City officials told local media that the developers who own the building submitted updated demolition plans that significantly changed when the demolition process would get under way.
Demolition is now expected to start in May instead of the end of February, pushing back the expected completion date to December.
New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell said the process is going to be more labor intensive than had been previously thought. The fire chief said city officials are not happy with the longer timeline, and the city is urging the company that owns the building to find a way to speed things along.
"The City has made it clear to the ownership that they are unhappy with the timeline," McConnell told local media Friday. "The mark was missed, it's more than doubled the timeline."
The Hard Rock Hotel on the edge of the French Quarter was under construction when it partially collapsed on Oct. 12. The bodies of two of the three workers who died in the collapse are still inside the building's remains.
