CityCenter to start clearing loose junk from inside Harmon Hotel

A court order says CityCenter can begin clearing away loose junk inside the unfinished Harmon Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, but cannot take apart the structure. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file)

CityCenter will start clearing away loose junk inside the unfinished Harmon Hotel but not taking apart the structure.

Attorneys for CityCenter, operated and half-owned by MGM Resorts International, received court approval Friday for the first stage of demolition with no opposition from any of the contractors that want the Harmon preserved as evidence.

But that didn’t stop George Oglivie III, the attorney for former general contractor Perini Building Corp., from delivering a little barb.

“I didn’t know you (CityCenter) were in such need of money that you have to sell the scrap,” he said.

CityCenter, which once planned to implode the 26-floor Harmon, has now switched to dismantling it one floor at a time. But starting the heavy work still awaits court approval. Objections to that have been raised by insurance company FM Global, which has said it may want more time to have its own people inspect the Harmon after CityCenter filed a claim on it as a total loss.