The ownership of Plaza Tower has filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent the New Orleans city government from taking actions to stabilize the deteriorating skyscraper in the Central Business District. Officials say that's stopping their plans to secure the building prior to the Super Bowl.
According to New Orleans City Government chief administrative officer Gilbert Montano, a judge will hear arguments about the restraining order next Thursday. Montano says city leaders learned of the restraining order on Thursday night, just hours before contractors were scheduled to begin preliminary inspections.
"The purpose of this press conference is to express the frustration the city has when we have everything lined up and try and anticipate to do the right thing to protect the public and we're met with constant hurdles," Montano said during a news briefing on Friday morning. "I believe it's important to have an economic stablization for this building in the future, but danger and the public welfare is tantamount in those conversations."
Right now, netting surrounds the top of the building to prevent pieces of concrete that have broken away from the structure from falling to the ground below. Several streets adjacent to the building are closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic because of the potential danger of falling debris. In November, debris fell from the tower, damaging nearby cars.
J. P. Morrell, the president of the New Orleans City Council, says he's tired of what he calls the Plaza Tower's "ownership group's antics."
"We've seen the hair net. We've seen the pieces of the building falling on pedestrians, bicycle riders, and vehicles, and at every instance where the city tries to have some kind of accountability with the ownership group, it has fallen on deaf ears. As we speak today, even as we try to secure this building, you have major thoroughfares that are blocked and unusable by the public because there is no urgency from this ownership group to take care of this building."
Morrell added that he supports Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration's efforts to secure and/or demolish the building, noting that the likelihood of the building being sold after years on the market is "a pipe dream."
"We're done, and it is increasingly frustrating and maddening that at every turn when the city tries to do the right thing, that economic interests and economic value of an owner group seems to outweigh public safety," Morrell said. "It is not sufficient for the ownership group to keep saying hold off a little longer (because) we're going to sell it.
"The city can no longer afford to wait for this ownership group to get their act together," Morrell continued. "It's time for us to do what is necessary to make it safe."