Engineer Weighs In On Hard Rock Hotel Collapse: ‘Logically, It Doesn’t Make Sense’
October 16, 2019
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On Saturday morning, structural engineer Walter Zehner’s phone rang with news of a devastating construction collapse on a site he once worked.
The plan for 1031 Canal St. had completely changed since Zehner left the project approximately three years ago, moving from a mixed use retail/residential design to what was planned to be a Hard Rock Hotel.
When Zehner arrived at the downtown construction site Saturday, he saw six to eight concrete levels had collapsed, the edges hanging down the side of the building as if they’d melted.
“It was a lot worse than I could have imagined,” Zehner said. “And I’ve seen the videos of the collapse and it’s kind of hard to figure out exactly what was going on there.”
In his career, Zehner has designed complex structures such as the Astor Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter, which he said is “very similar” to the planned Hard Rock Hotel.