more feedsHarmon Rumor Confirmed
MGM Resorts Intl. has confirmed the rumor the the Harmon Hotel will be removed from CityCenter. The build has been deemed unsafe and is condemned. No time frame for the event was given.
We still don't know if it will be imploded or dismantled.
I'm sure the folks at Cosmopolitan are happy about this (view expanding) news. Frankly, i was never fond of the Harmon, I thought it looked out-of-place within the CityCenter complex.
thoughts?
We still don't know if it will be imploded or dismantled.
I'm sure the folks at Cosmopolitan are happy about this (view expanding) news. Frankly, i was never fond of the Harmon, I thought it looked out-of-place within the CityCenter complex.
thoughts?
Posted by Mark Adams at 11/14/2010 3:48 PM 
Categories: Vegas Project Updates
Tags: citycenter news Harmon
Categories: Vegas Project Updates
Tags: citycenter news Harmon
MGM has an ongoing lawsuit so they do have incentive to say that they don't think they can use the building.
As far as I know, the building hasn't actually been condemned by Clark County. Is that incorrect? Has it? If so, where has that been confirmed? Clearly, it never got occupancy certification but my understanding is that they never applied for it, not that it was turned down.
My point is that it may or may not actually be unusable - until the lawsuit is resolved, I don't believe anything MGM or Perini say about the building.
If the county takes an action, that's another story.
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In all my criticism of the City Center project, I never thought this would happen. I find it so bizarre I don't really know what to say, and yet, it makes sense.
I have a hunch with the boring normalcy of new Vegas hotels at the moment that another less crowded city may take over. If someone were to build a truly interesting attraction elsewhere, it could easily steal tourists from Vegas.
I mean, what do you say about Vegas now, "I'm going to Vegas to stay in a giant office building and while I'm there I'm going to look at all the other giant office buildings! Should be great! Partay!"
It's not that bad yet, but it's getting there.
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I couldn't agree more. . Vegas needs over the top buildings to attract people. No one is going to make the long trip into town, to see something they can see in any big city. Although I like themes, I can see why you may not want to put up a new one. There are plenty of other outrageous ideas one could explore. I felt MGM was ashamed of what Vegas is, and CityCenter is a giant apology.
For the money they spent on CityCenter, they should have saved the money on recycled wallpaper, and had one of the buildings float. That would’ve brought people.
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This is just absurd. How did this Bldg get so far along with such a major flaw. What a huge waste of money.
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I agree....just HOW did the building get so far with such problems??
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UNIONS! Dirty, filthy, corrupt, selfish, thuggish and communistic UNIONS is why.
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Hunter is right. This interpretation of Howard stutz' story is very inaccurate. Nobody has condemned anything.
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The condemnation statement came from this article at VegasTripping
http://www.vegastripping.com/news/news.php?news_id=3700
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Well, that's a new one... rather brand-new building goes down the drain. Unfortunately, it's also the only colourful spot in the whole complex.
I guess that will become a nightmare to "cut it out" without damaging bordering structures... implosions require some safety space all around...
So let's get used to that ugly (de-)constructions site and its denial of a usable sidewalk for the next 5+ years.
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I am not sure where the leap from "condemned" to "imploded" came from. Has someone somewhere said that MGM "will implode" the Harmon? It seems to me that if there are structural deficiencies, they may be able to be fixed. That's one of the things that structural engineers do if someone wants to make a 2-story structure a 3 or 4-story structure so I don't see why an engineer could not make the Harmon structurally sound for a investment amount substantially less than imploding and rebuilding. There are considerations such as Aria/City Center/Crystals access (good and bad) that will likely come into play long before they can make a decision as rash as an implosion.
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Honestly, I think this is a win/win for MGM. Had the Harmon been built properly, they wouldn't have sold many of the units at all and lost a bunch of money on it. With all of the defects, they can sue Perini for that lost revenue that they wouldn't have gotten in the first place with the current economy. Sounds like the classic blessing in disguise.
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http://www.lvrj.com/business/mgm-resorts-targets-harmon-hotel-for-demolition-107681193.html
Here is some more info at the review journal on the Harmon situation.
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If they are destroying the Harmon, I am certainly Half and Half on the method. I kind of want them to implode it because implosions are cool. But I would also like them to deconstruct it because I want them to keep the Harmon look. To do that they would need to put the grocery store and fitness center in the existing part that sticks out from the tower.
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The phrase the lawyers are using is Forensic Demolition but that is a phrase that also embraces disassembly rather than implosion. It will be carefully dismantled with each step filmed and samples taken for testing.
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I agree with Kyle, when the economy turns sour, everyone is looking for a way out of their under performing investments. The structural defect is the perfect excuse for MGM to back out and sued someone for compensation.
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Sweet, now maybe they will blow up the rest of this distracting monstrosity known as city center. It would be cool if they blew it up this new years eve so i can watch it from what will be the newly opened cosmopolitan by then! Does anyone have any updates on the Cosmo? it looks like it could be a fun ride........and soon with even better views of our beloved strip.
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it actually has not been comfirmed "As to a report in the Las Vegas Sun on Saturday that MGM Resorts had targeted the Harmon for demolition, Feldman said such a decision has not yet been made.
Feldman said that testing and engineering analysis of the building must be completed before decisions are made on whether it can be repaired and used.
"It certainly can't be used for its intended purpose, which is a five-star hotel," Feldman said.
Perini maintains the structure can be fixed.
But there are many questions, resolution of which awaits the completion of the engineering analysis. Any fixes would have to be approved by the Clark County Department of Development Services.
That county agency has approved ongoing destructive testing of the building including the jack-hammering away of concrete to inspect the underlying support system.
The issues include how or if the building can be used at all, what it would cost to repair it, who would pay for the repairs and CityCenter's ongoing claim for lost business.
MGM Resorts, in its latest earnings report, said CityCenter took a $279 million charge in the third quarter to write down the value of the Harmon, where construction was halted in March.
MGM Resorts said Nov. 3 that CityCenter has concluded it "is unlikely the Harmon will be completed using the building as it now stands."
Because of the construction defects involving concrete and reinforcing rebar at the 400-room, nongaming boutique hotel, it was limited to 26 of the 49 originally-planned floors.
Before the construction defects were discovered, the Harmon was intended to have some 200 condominiums atop the 400 hotel rooms." this is taken from an interveiw release after the lvrj article
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well its a shame that they will implode the only colorful structure on that property.well in my opinion they should implode the rest of them...i totally agree that they just look like boring office buildings that can be seen in any other city....they really needed to put more imagination and brains into this project....looks nothing like vegas.....and its just dull and very boring.......these developers really needed a theme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I wish people would stop using the word 'implosion'. There is no room for the debris field. Also, if you saw the pit they dug for this whole complex, you'd see a lot of common structural conections going down multiple floors below surface level. I'm not a structural engineer, but common sense tells me The Harmon cannot be immploded.
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