The city of New Orleans spent $6 million in just the first two weeks after the collapse of the partly-built Hard Rock Hotel.
The city may sue to recover its costs.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration listed a host of costs which are still rising.
Payroll costs for rescue workers and to secure the site amounted to nearly $2 million and street repairs, transportation infrastructure repairs and related costs added another $3.5 million.
This includes damage to the Saenger Theater and lost ticket revenue after the show ‘Wicked’ had to be cancelled.
There were about 100 construction workers employed at the site at the time of the collapse.
The bodies of two of the three who died have yet to be removed from the site.
According to documents seen by Nola.com, many other expenses have not been added up yet, including lost tax revenue plus other expenditures.
Liability insurance will not likely cover all the expenses and the city may file a lawsuit to recover costs.
The Mayor said the site will almost certainly be completely demolished but recovery of the two bodies that remain there may have to wait until the demolition is completed.
It is just too dangerous to send a recovery team in to extract the remains, Mayor Cantrell said.
