This Vegas hotel was thrown away because of a mistake

[@avianswine6612]

Somewhere there exists a code inspector who turns down bribes and does the job in which he is expected to perform. A true unicorn

[@jakebarnes28]

I know some. In fact, of the three I know, they're all honest. I generally hang out with the honest and decent so I assume most people are likewise. When you associate with the other sort, you tend to assume others are like you and yours.

[@trockterry6]

My stepdad.

[@PerishingForLackOfKnowledge]

Not in LA. They will literally kill you. 😂

[@Bobrogers99]

@@jakebarnes28 You know the three honest ones.

[@jorgeposadas1192]

You know he got black listed hahahahahahahaha

[@twt9623]

Unsupervised construction. Well you get what you pay for.

[@Rhaspun]

Yes. Not worth going with the cheapest bid. My brother is an architect. When he put out for bids for a new house he would review the bids with the client and he will tell the client that maybe one builder is cheaper but the builder doesn't want inspections during the construction. My brother likes to inspect at different stages of the construction and he tells prospective builders that. He knows from experience that they won't follow specifications.

[@he-mansuncle7661]

@@RhaspunMy dad was a project supervisor for the MGM City Centre construction. It wasn’t the construction workers fault, it was the designers/architects. The company sued and won over $150 million in lost wages. They’re one of the best construction companies in the world.

[@Joe-wb1xh]

Mob over run blunder. Hello Drump.

[@nofurtherwest3474]

@@he-mansuncle7661how was it designers fault?

[@MichaelfromtheGraves]

​@he-mansuncle7661 you know architects don't specify locations of rebar, right?

[@paulm5458]

There are to many people in this country collecting pay checks that suck at their job.

[@sylviaisgod6947]

*too

[@mualan4683]

Especially government deal. It’s easy money because it came from tax money.

[@jamiejones6994]

​@sylviaisgod6947 I bet u won tha speln b & u r tha coolist kid on the block & got all the $ proly was a multi millionaire at a very early age but it don't make a dam no way u hear now

[@thepain321]

People living with no choice but to work 40hr weeks for pay that isn’t enough to survive without struggle. Do not care about the quality of their work. They only want to do the absolute minimum to get paid. Because when employers will only pay the minimum for workers, they get what they give.

[@DengueBurger]

@@mualan4683nope. Private sector is much worse.

[@johnstuartsmith]

The Harmon was part of a very large project which also had the Aria and the Vdara being built at the same time. The City of Las Vegas figured that rather than hiring additional building inspectors, they would allow the construction companies to inspect and sign off on their own work. Hilarity ensued. Architects realized that changes had been made to the blueprints of work that had already been done, with little documentation of how the work was different from what the engineers specified, and with authorizations from engineers, architects, and inspectors that appeared to be forgeries. Much of the construction that was suspected of being faulty was critical parts of the foundation. They couldn't be inspected because they were buried in concrete and under a nearly completed building. Soon it became clear that since the seismic safety of the building could not be assessed, The Harmon hotel and condominium would never get insured. Everybody involved sued everybody else and eventually The Harmon was carefully deconstructed.

[@jofujino]

Yes, to be more specific though, the problem was the 3rd parties Pacific Coast Steel (subcontractor hired to do the rebar) and Converse Consultants (hired to do the building inspections), who modified the plans without going back to the architects or Engineers (and the 2 Converse building inspectors were the ones making 62 falsified daily reports).

[@johngalt5205]

So basically it was the governments fault. They had 1 job, and they couldn't be bothered. I would have sued the city for failing to provide a basic service.

[@johnstuartsmith]

@@johngalt5205 Sometimes, people decide that the oppressive hand of government shouldn't be interfering with people like architects, builders, food producers, or people managing airlines. They believe that uninsurable buildings, poisoned food, or airplanes that fly themselves into the ground are such financial disasters that companies will police themselves without government oversight, but when shortcuts save money and there is no oversight, stuff like the Harmon, massive food recalls and the 737 Max happen.

[@johngalt5205]

@johnstuartsmith When Market Failure occurs, a society needs the government to take over in a limited capacity. National Defense, to include border enforcement, law enforcement, and standardized building codes and inspections, are good examples.

[@lloydchristmas1086]

So the only ones who made out was the de-construction company. There was alot of sleepless nights with project i assume.

[@kylemiller6765]

The contractor shouldn't have gotten a penny.

[@userBZDZ]

Why?

[@Max_Griswald]

​@@userBZDZ- They built it wrong?

[@userBZDZ]

@@Max_Griswald Did the engineers design it wrong? Or did the builders forget to put the rebar where it was supposed to be? Why automatically blame the contractor?

[@jakemartinez6894]

⁠@@userBZDZ …That’s literally what the video said mate. You can try and prove the guy wrong, but you maaaay actually want to listen to what he said first.

[@userBZDZ]

​@@jakemartinez6894 the video never says who was ultimately wrong, mate. Might want to go watch the video again a little more carefully.

[@ursafan40]

Whoever made the mistake, architect or contractor, they should foot the bill even if it means bankruptcy. We accept far too much incompetence today. Too big to fail, too connected to fail, too crooked to fail. Let em fail and learn

[@jofujino]

It was kinda a combination of the Architects and the 3rd party hired as inspectors. Architects delivered a plan that could not be installed as drawn. Then Pacific Coast Steel and Converse (the 3rd party inspectors) made the much bigger mistake of modifying the plans and placement of the steel without consulting the architects or engineers. Further investigation revealed converse's two inspectors falsified 62 daily reports which is why the county went after them and the firm got a 6 month suspension of all activity and settled out of court on some fines. The general contractor and subcontractors are the ones who won the lawsuit to be paid for the work they'd done because they were supposedly following authorized revisions to the architectural plans.

[@gregscottjung]

​@@jofujinothank you for the back story 🙏

[@Ducky69247]

Cool, so we know exactly who shouldn't have been paid instead of arguing over who to blame.

[@jofujino]

@Ducky69247 I don't think it is perfectly cut and dry. The subcontractors not involved in the mistake definitely deserve to be paid. I think it is more debatable whether the general contractor was doing their job, since part of being a general contractor is vetting and overseeing the subcontractors. The general contractor won the lawsuit to be paid but one could argue they were asleep at the wheel not making sure the different contractors were communicating and everyone was doing their job.

[@jasonwinters2708]

The contractor shouldn't have got s*** for making such a stupid mistake

[@SergeantExtreme]

We don't know for certain if it was the contractor's fault. It could have been the engineers, at which point the contractors were just following faulty instructions.

[@g_atoradebottle]

@@SergeantExtremeit’s the contractors fault not the engineers, engineers give the full blue prints basically that say where to put what for structural integrity. The contractor is at fault.

[@kennethjohnson2967]

I worked on this building , installing the underground plumbing , grease waste and storm drains ! The biggist problem with any of the construction on this building was that it started out 7 months behind construction of the rest of what's called city center ! Aria , Cosmo and the rest were built in about half the time it would normally take ! We were constantlly told to hurry up ! To bad , this was going to be a beautiful building !

[@holysmoker10]

An engineer was walking the units when he came across a contractor cutting and rewelding some steel I-beams. When he asked the guy doing the work what he was doing and why. He found out the I -beams were to short in one area and not long enough in another. When they continue to check they found out this had happened on every floor. Structurally the building was condemned. It sat for a couple years till they decided to tear it down.

[@beedubya8836]

So they were too short in both areas then lol

[@milt6208]

It became the most expensive bill board in the world.

[@ecto1996]

There’s a lot of pressure on Ironworkers to perform, and ask no questions.

[@melissabrewer8969]

I could be wrong, It seems like it was more than just a couple years before it was torn down.

[@AmphetaminisedGavid]

@@milt6208 the dome took that title.

[@slappy8941]

I used to work construction, and this is typical of about half the companies out there. It's a miracle we don't have a building collapse every day.

[@he-mansuncle7661]

Since you worked in construction, you should know that architects and designers make mistakes. That’s why they won the lawsuit against MGM.

[@Joe-wb1xh]

Have you been to Florida.

[@SkeelesFortySeven3277]

Amen, brother!

[@homuraakemi4559]

You'd love places like Beijing and Dubai.

[@SpaceRaptorJesusJedi]

I don't even think companies are to blame. It's people that don't give a fuck about doing their job.

[@drtybrdy75]

The building shifted as well. I built the cosmo across the street. We nicknamed it the leaning tower of Vegas.

[@xanderunderwoods3363]

That's awesome! How do you think they missed the rebar placement?

[@drtybrdy75]

@@xanderunderwoods3363 the soil wasn’t stable.

[@he-mansuncle7661]

FYI: The reason why this happened was because, architects/designers screwed up. The construction company sued MGM and their designers and won. My dad was a project supervisor for MGM City Centre and has worked 40 years with the company.

[@zir456]

So... Who actually in the wrong? Theres no way the Contruction Company didn't do anything wrong or does USA Law just so Bad that They can won something They fcked over

[@ButterfatFarms]

What about the 60+ falsified inspection reports?

[@cyclopsvision6370]

It doesn't need to be complicated. Just pull out the blueprints and look at it. The blueprint should be the source of truth, right?

[@he-mansuncle7661]

@@cyclopsvision6370 The blueprints were wrong.

[@ButterfatFarms]

@@he-mansuncle7661 that doesn't excuse the construction firm changing things on the fly to make things work and the inspection firm they sub contracted falsifying the inspection reports.

[@numeroVLAD]

The point is people made money anyway

[@jakebarnes28]

Not.

[@milt6208]

Not us employees who lost jobs because of upper management royally screwed up. And they kept their jobs.

[@randomchannel50]

The only people that made money here are the 9-5 guys

[@zir456]

Yes the who make Mistakes on purpose are the one who made easy Money

[@saliston]

So the contractor screws up and gets an extra 150 million SMH

[@zir456]

Without Context, I see It as the Contractor doing this on purpose for easy money

[@dixiecyrus8136]

Nope, they were following directions from someone who shouldn't have been making those decisions, they did what they were paid to do.

[@evolutionxbox]

What is the point of insurance when they don’t pay out…

[@fadedprodigy8620]

"a private sanctuary for the young and wealthy" we were supposed to be the young and wealthy....

[@The-eh6fm]

What Earthquakes????? We in the middle of the highland continental platform, there is nothing but bedrock I whole of state...

[@mlledj22]

It the economy hadn't crashed and those condos had been sold, that building would still be standing. They tore it down for the insurance money so it wasn't a total loss

[@fposmith]

RE: The Movie, "The Producers" !

[@PerishingForLackOfKnowledge]

This is why more regulations are so damn important, not cutting them!!! Wtf

[@arturopalos2739]

They are no longer young nor wealthy.😂😅😂😅

[@moshunit96]

It wasn't just rebar problems. An inspector saw a gas cutting torch and tanks and was then curious why it was up there. Turned out they screwed up and misinterpreted the plans and decided to cut the steel i beams to "fix it" which weakened the entire structure.

[@cc23001]

U don't know what you're talking about. I worked for one of, if not the biggest steel fabricators in the country and guess what we used to cut beams with? Saws and torches. Welding puts lots of heat in to an I beam too.. Is that unacceptable now??

[@janettetorrez9218]

@@cc23001That’s literally what he said. A gas cutting torch. Then you say he doesn’t have a clue then proceed to confirm he’s right by mentioning the same torch. Lol

[@C1azed]

Definitely an insurance scam gone wrong

[@bartbiniecki3711]

This happens when you hire construction workers from home depot parking lot 😂

[@michaelplitt2135]

Hey boss, the rebar doesn't look right. Management: stay in your lane, Mr. Don't tell me how to run this operation.

[@TravelingSag]

Insurance scam at the highest level.

[@ryaj2356]

When contractors hire the cheapest labor they can find, this is what you get

[@kennethjohnson2967]

This was a union job ! The problem was we were forced to hurry the fuck up ! And the contractors did self inspections , because Vegas didn't want to hire real inspectors ! Don't blame the help ! We did a lot of bitching about things that didn't look right !

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Thank you for sharing.😊😊

[@phaedra5283]

I imagine this what Benny Siegal felt like when he built in Vegas back in the day. At least nobody was killed this time.

[@milt6208]

Bugsy didn't build anything. He took over the Flamingo when it was close to being completed. Everybody in town knew who he was and what he did for a business and they took advantage of this tinhorn mobster and ripped him off blind. One example I was told of was Siegal always had a bundle of cash to pay for things and they would truck in Palm trees and he would pay cash for. Then drive these palm trees around to tĥe other sude of the project and put the same palm trees on another truck and sell them to him again. The guy wasn't a big shot in Las Vegas.

[@stickynorth]

Libertarian logic right there... Self policing, self regulating... self-incriminating...

[@princequestly2218]

But they all pinky swore. 😂

[@古明地恋-s9c]

Statists and engineers share a common thing: they duct-tape out of any problem, except statists substitute duct-tape for the state

[@SmokeBurp]

2006 was the worst year of my life

[@baracksays9401]

sorry to hear that bro

[@BrCarla]

Feels like the contractor took it to his own hands to fix an engineer mistake maybe Mgm had a weird plan in mind?

[@kennixox262]

IT was planned as condo units. Not a hotel. IT was dismantled floor by floor.

[@qolspony]

*shaking my head in disbelief*

[@jasonitsasecret9]

There is more to this. Someone didnt do their job. Likely the inspector how do you do 15 floors wrong before anyone notices

[@johnstuartsmith]

There were no city or county inspectors.The architects, project owners and construction companies were allowed to oversee and sign off on their own work. The people who were being too creative by taking shortcuts were the same people paying thir own inspectors to sign off on the work.

[@jhylton8789]

We toured the first & second floor units at The Harmon when they were “showing them off” to prospective buyers… but I could tell the construction was NOT going well. They had a lot of workers shaking their heads & sighing and awful lot…. & I was there every weekend for a few years with the person who wanted a second home in Vegas.

[@andrekeefer2034]

It should have been built by the Chinese.

[@melissabrewer8969]

Shows how bad my memory is, lol. I swear I thought I remembered it being a completely round building, not oblong.

[@moynul313]

I always thought they cancelled the construction due to lack of condo sales and figured its better to take a loss and demolish it

[@Fol2ey]

I work on large commercial constructions across europe. Ans my experience tells me this could be an array of mistakes. Ranging from sub contractor order and install blunders, which i actually doubt is possible for this lenth of install. Even of it was, the managing contractor should have been checking and singing off every section. With a contra tual mechanism for sign offs required. Alternatively it could be uncoordianted drawings by the architect or incorrect steel schedules. All parties within the construction contract have a duty of care to the client. The company who financed this have had their momey amd time wasted in what can only be considered negligence.

[@chooch5728]

Earthquakes?

[@GotloLuna68]

So the contractor royally fuged up and then sued for 400 million....and got 75% of insurance $$ anyways lol. What a crazy world we live in

[@Cooliron24]

This is what happens when you hire a construction manager straight out of college, the company building this building should have took all the losses. It was their fault because of the rebar being put in the wrong place which caused this mess.

[@martinwhalley3286]

The Harmon Resort is on North Las Vegas Blvd. Evidently, this project was sacked and reconsidered on the much cheaper real estate of NLV. The strip location could be 10x more expensive than the property North of downtown. This could've been near Desert Inn H/C or the old Fashion Show Mall.

[@delanorrosey4730]

"Get into the trades." They say. Looks like commercial construction and renovation is as much a dumpster fire as residential construction and renovation. The only successful industry would be is demolition.

[@kashfortheking]

Sounds like the most expensive mall in US history.

[@borntoclimb7116]

This is the true definition of a epic fail

[@ninjamanx320]

If both sides had talked and hadn't had f***** up this would have been the most largest building on the strip and the most expensive

[@fposmith]

They could not do explosive demolition on this building as it was surrounded by glass towers. It had to be disassembled floor by floor ! The 12 million for demolition the insurance company payed, was only half of what it actually cost to bring it down !

[@neonthefox3550]

I was wondering where that building went a while ago lol. I thought I was just imagining

[@onlyinamerica4916]

It was originally named Lifestyles and was gonna be a lbgt hotel condo building when they couldn't sell enough condos the name was changed to Harmon...the rebar problem was fixable what killed the building was on level4 the transition between typical and non typical floors was not engineered properly it was built to spec but it could not be fixed..At 26 stories it was perfectly safe but MGM was billions over on city center and wanted to cut some loses..Tutor Perinni won the case because they proved the design errors and that was on MGM and the engineers..it was a shit show...and they found the rebar problem when at level 19 not 22 they xrayed every floor and found the design errors ..they fixed some of the rebar issues starting on level 15 but it took much longer than anticipated ...

[@ButterfatFarms]

They didn't "win the case" they settled the day of the trial, the case never went to trial. Nobody ever admitted any fault.

[@milt6208]

And yet when City Center opened they spent something like 16 billion dollars to build the place but its was valued at 8 billion dollars when finished. And the stupid management that lost all this money still kept their jobs. MGM has got to have been one of the worst run companies of all times.

[@emypena]

At least they didn't finish the building. Just look at the Millennium Tower in San Francisco

[@zico739]

Iger, Feige, DaCosta (Director,) and the other producers are certainly the most culpable for this disaster and the M-She-U in general. Iman is not wrong.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Who is doing the engineering inspection oversight?

[@42luke93]

that actually sounds like a happy ending. A four story mall for the public. There is no use for a condos to public tourists.

[@kennixox262]

Tell that to the people who live in the Veer Towers condo buildings in the same City Center complex nearby.

[@42luke93]

@@kennixox262 They must not want foot traffic I see.

[@kennixox262]

The new multi retail center that replaced the Harmon Tower is open now for business. A very nice seafood restaurant is on the top floor and all this is ajacent to Crystals shopping center. @@42luke93

[@168tsai8]

Most expensive billboard for almost a decade.

[@afriendtoo6971]

I worked on an adjacent building. It is all about speed and lack of experienced workers. Faster faster faster. City Center Project. I believe 6 men died on that massive project.

[@tonial5789]

it was one of the first building to be finished in 2009 and in 2010 it was gone. i thought i remembered wrong but this actually happened

[@kennethjohnson2967]

It was never finished , i know i worked on it ! One day my boss told me to grab my tools and go to the Hard Rock , this job is shut down ! 22 floors outta 49 !

[@martinwhalley3286]

Location: old Jockey Club.

[@cesramm1120]

Why would they sue MGM after making a building that doesn't work and could kill people

[@docdildonica7515]

Sounds like an insurance fraud scheme from the jump.

[@StopLitter]

Except there was NO recession.

[@jeremyrealtor]

It was NEXT to the mall. The mall was there during demo!

[@arctic_jake]

I saw this in a photo and was looking all over for this building and couldn't find and was like is this the Mandela effect or sum but omg im so happy

[@micosstar]

bruh came from youtube recommend

[@bfranklin4302]

Was the rebar placement catastrophic it should have been to shut down a build of this magnitude

[@purplehaze55bronco]

So you CAN find this building… in the form of a 4 story mall

[@mrkenmt]

How often are there earthquakes in vegas?

[@melissabrewer8969]

Not often at all.

[@jeffeldredge1608]

When is the last time Vegas experienced an earthquake? Couple thousand years ago.

[@brandonallen2659]

One of the costliest construction blunders in history. China - hold my beer 🍺

[@vincentcohoe5746]

took years for them to take that building down once they started.

[@fposmith]

Floor by floor !

[@Jacobo_fab_repair]

2008 the housing market crahsed and vegas economy was hit hard

[@rickjohnson6711]

Well now there is a Ross Dress for Less in its place! Seems like a better investment.

[@mlledj22]

There is NOT a ross there! That is across the street. That whole "mall" is SUPER SUPER high end for the very wealthy. Think Gucci, LV, Balenciaga, etc.

[@normasubia6807]

Yes it’s a also a Ross !!

[@alkey7266]

Yea wrong side of the strip

[@melissabrewer8969]

@@mlledj22you’re wrong because there is absolutely a Ross in there too. I literally just saw it today. Lol

[@Im.k.m.aka.kalaashnikov]

Nah they banked on it being defunct so they can try a legal battle. That's all the money they can make these days without people having spare cash to play around

[@Ryan-he2qz]

Everything you want to build in amerika is about money …. Very costly thats why most americans cant afford to buy homes or build their own.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodic128]

it was an insurance scam from day 1

[@henryjanicky4978]

If you wants to win ugliest construction buildings, do it in simple glass ,as this ,or so many others

[@bfranklin4302]

More than likely this was just a play for the lawyers and bureaucrats to get some

[@joeverna5459]

Does Vegas have earthquakes?

[@mrsbluesky8415]

Yes we get small ones sometimes. There’s a fault line nearby too.

[@ebenezerwheezer2957]

Desert inn and lindell is a big fault line.

[@roberthein2156]

Maybe they already owned a CASINO ?!?! Soooo….. SLOT PLAYERS ALREADY PAID FOR EVERYTHING !!!!

[@JoshuaChristiansen-wm3vq]

Ocean's 13 was made because of this building 🥃

[@sypoth]

They should have kept the theme park.

[@dgrant7291]

City Center was too much too fast in many ways....but its working fine today

[@beatorres8395]

Ignorance kills and destroys 😮

[@ronaldschilling4753]

I remember them removing the glass

[@jimmykelly2809]

Earthquakes….. in Vegas?

[@HectorLopez-dl2hi]

What a nightmare,so interesting

[@RedceLL1978]

Pandemic started in 2020, it hasn't even been that 5 years yet.

[@jakerojas4756]

Lmfaoooooooooooo These the fools that run the world. Haha meanwhile my financial mistakes are like a few hundred bucks. #KING

[@lorenzodicapo6305]

Whatever. There's a Ross there now, still everything's cool

[@surfmotor]

A non corrupt inspector in vegas?

[@blue_diamond_gem]

You mean it never existed.

[@yoqiu_]

It was demolished. This is because the structure couldn't be reconfigured to meet necessary safety specifications.

[@Abyss-Will]

A non gaming hotel??? Wtf??

[@DavidBarnes-d7t]

People are so lazy they can’t even be bothered to use their own voice for a 30 second clip. AI voice equals instant swipe up

[@Justabigloser]

HI larious!!!!

[@miriareu]

Oh no people made money. They just took off and name changed themselves into oblivion lol

[@forcelightningcable9639]

Oh that’s what the eyesore is?

[@Vegas805]

Wonder who the contractor was?

[@fposmith]

Dewy, Cheatum and Howe !

[@jomama5186]

Too bad. Wow.

[@blakesoutherlandLasVegas]

I remember this well