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Focus On: The Harmon Hotel at CityCenter - Litigation Case
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The partially built but never opened Harmon Tower is potentially facing demolition by the end of this year
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In July of 2011, we published an article about the highly publicized litigation
surrounding The Harmon Tower at CityCenter and associated liability issues. It is appropriate to revisit the topic a year later in light of new developments regarding the fate of the tower.
Case Update:
A Nevada State judge recently granted permission for MGM Resorts to demolish the empty building, stating MGM's right to demolish the tower as a business decision. The decision came from the ongoing pretrial hearings that will ultimately determine whether The Harmon will stand or fall.
Several key players have large stakes in the fate of this structure, and are presented below.
The Owner:
MGM Resorts International and Dubai World are co-owners of The Harmon Hotel. The building cost roughly $275 million before construction was halted when inspectors discovered missing or faulty installation of reinforcing steel bars in the concrete slabs, columns and link beams of the structure. The Harmon Tower was going to be the centerpiece of the $8.5 Billion dollar CityCenter complex that remains unfinished today. MGM is seeking to implode the building, claiming demolition (at a cost of about $30 million) to be the fastest and safest outcome for the mired tower.
The Builder:
Tutor Perini Corp. is the General Contractor responsible for The Harmon's construction. The company is counter-claiming in the suit for unpaid work and currently holds a $300 million lien against the property. Perini wants to fix the building's defects at a cost of about $20 million. This would result in The Harmon being repaired, finished, and put into operation.
The Engineers:
Structural engineers hired by both the owner and the builder as expert witnesses in the case have determined The Harmon to be structurally unsound. These engineers agree that the structure would incur massive damage, or even collapse, during an earthquake due to the missing and faulty reinforcing steel bars in the structure's concrete slabs, columns and link beams. The engineers disagree, however, whether or not the structure can be repaired.
Conclusion:
Regardless of the outcome, we can all agree that this situation was entirely preventable. Whether The Harmon Hotel is repaired and opened, or demolished and replaced by something else, it will always stand as a lesson we can all learn from.
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