Accident at Hard Rock Hotel halts construction

South Lake Tahoe’s SWAT vehicle rams the entrance of the former Horizon casino in Stateline on Aug. 13. Photo/Provided

Updated Sept. 4 1pm

Construction at what will be a Hard Rock Hotel in Stateline temporarily stopped because of an accident on the job Friday.

The porte cochere – or overhang for what was the valet area for the old Horizon hotel-casino – collapsed Aug. 29, trapping one of the workers in the debris. The person was projected by equipment and not injured.

Brothers Jon and David Park are spending $60 million to transform the property into Lake Tahoe Hard Rock Hotel. Neither was available for comment, nor was Nevada OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials have since OK’d all work to continue.

Tahoe-Douglas Fire Marshal Eric Guevin said his agency and Nevada-OSHA put a “red tag” on the site, meaning work had to stop at least in the area of the accident This was lifted on Sept. 2 at 2pm.

“They have new plans and doing things differently,” Guevin told Lake Tahoe News.

Construction crews had a permit from the county to demolish this outside structure on the west side of the property. Some of it had been destroyed Aug. 13 when law enforcement used it as a training site.

Someone driving by the site that morning about 8am said they saw dust wafting in air and that two sides of the ceiling looked like it was folding in on itself.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report