Photo © Bill Hughes Demolition will begin this summer of Foster + Partners' unfinished Harmon Hotel in Las Vegas. Foster + Partners’ Harmon Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip is being razed without ever opening. Owner MGM Resorts International received court approval on April 22 to demolish the unfinished 27-floor, oval-shaped tower following a protracted legal battle with its contractor, Tutor Perini Corp., over building defects. The Harmon once figured prominently in the $8.5 billion CityCenter hotel-casino-entertainment complex that opened in December 2009. Today, it stands empty and half-built, its facade serving as a makeshift billboard. "CityCenter consulted with experts about

This story originally appeared on ENR.com. San Diego architect Graham T. Downes died on April 21 from injuries following a late-night fight two days before with an employee outside his San Diego home. He was 55. Downes suffered blunt force head and neck trauma, including numerous skull fractures, from the altercation with Higinio Soriano Salgado, according to the San Diego County coroner's report. Image courtesy Graham Downes Architecture Graham T. Downes Salgado was a development manager since 2008 with Blokhaus, a leasing and development firm affiliated with Graham Downes Architecture.Police found Downes unconscious in the street in front of his

MGM Resorts International intends to implode Foster + Partners’ unfinished Harmon Hotel due to “serious structural defects” and “public safety concerns,” the company announced on August 15. The news comes a month after the release of a report claiming the Las Vegas building was beyond repair. Photo courtesy Wikipedia MGM hopes to demolish the 28-story hotel. Related Links: Who's To Blame for Faulty Foster Tower? Foster's CityCenter Tower Pared DownCityCenter Coverage Demolition is not a sure bet, however. County officials have to approve the demolition plans. Plus, MGM would have to get a Clark County district court to overturn an

Photo courtesy HOK Work recently resumed on the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Headquarters in Riverdale, Maryland. Completion is slated for July 2012. Related Links Top 250 Firms Foster’s Half-Built Harmon Beyond Repair By this time next summer, the 800 employees currently working in the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s dreary, outdated headquarters will be moving into a bright and modern new home by HOK. It’s a long-anticipated move that some thought may never happen.  Construction of the $66.2 million NOAA facility in Riverdale, Maryland resumed in April after work was halted in 2009. The 268,762-square-foot building, on 10 acres,

MGM Resorts and general contractor Perini are embroiled in a lawsuit over the Harmon Hotel's allegedly defective construction. Photo © Bill Hughes Photo © Bill Hughes Related Links: Developer May Raze Foster's Unfinished Harmon Tower in Vegas Who’s To Blame for Faulty Foster Tower? A new report finds that Foster + Partners’ unfinished Harmon Hotel tower on the Las Vegas Strip is beyond repair and could potentially collapse in a “code-level” earthquake. Owner MGM Resorts International recently commissioned Weidlinger Associates, a California-based engineering consulting firm, to perform a structural assessment of the 400-room, oval-shaped high-rise that anchors the northeast corner of

Photo courtesy Tony Illia Despite being 70 percent complete, construction of the $2.9 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas was halted in mid-2009 due to financial woes. Today, the abandoned project sits collecting dust, with completion nowhere in sight. Nationwide, the economy might be on the upswing, leading to more construction work. Las Vegas, however, has yet to bounce back. High unemployment, less discretionary spending, and fewer visitors have stalled several local building projects, including Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Despite being 70 percent complete, construction of the $2.9 billion tower was halted in mid-2009 because the owners were unable to scrape together the

Whether the still unopened Harmon Hotel inside the CityCenter resort in Las Vegas is demolished or remains an expensive billboard is now part of yet one more legal battle stemming from the struggling mega-resort’s many financial woes.

Photo courtesy of CityCenter Land LLC Scorcher Hotel owner says it is trying again to fix the alleged ‘death ray’ problem after a 2008 attempt. Related Links: CityCenter Las Vegas Strip resorts vie to be the hottest place in town, but Vdara, a recently opened hotel, literally can scorch those visiting the pool deck during certain times of the day. The 57-story, 1,495-room hotel is one of six towers at the $8.5-billion, 67-acre CityCenter complex, which opened last December. On Sept. 16, Vdara condominium owner and personal injury lawyer William G. Pintas complained to local media that the hotel’s south

Image courtesy Edward M. Kennedy Institute Gehry is designing a $60 million new home for the Signature Theatre Company. The theater will be located inside a new glass tower by Arquitectonica and Ismael Leyva Architects. New York City’s Signature Theatre Company has added some star power to its line-up: Frank Gehry. The Los Angeles-based architect is designing a $60 million permanent home for the 19-year-old, off-Broadway theater company inside a glass tower now rising at West 42nd Street and 10th Avenue, one block east of Signature’s current location. The theater company originally had planned to move to a freestanding venue

Vegas’s newest high-stakes bet, the $8.5 billion CityCenter, has had a bumpy ride, with the deaths of six construction workers, a lawsuit between development partners over rising costs that was later dropped, and funding woes brought on by the global credit crisis.