Debris has fallen from the Plaza Tower, forcing NOFD and NOPD to close several roads downtown just weeks after WDSU investigated the building's integrity. Streets closed include Calliope Street to O’Keefe Avenue, O’Keefe Avenue to Howard Avenue and Baronne Street to Howard Avenue. A person was reportedly injured while riding his bike downtown. He was taken to the hospital, but is expected to survive.During a news conference, city officials announced a chain link fence will be installed around the Plaza Tower to protect passersby from more possible falling debris.Afterwards, the property owner said he will put netting around the building to further prevent any debris from causing harm to people or the surrounding streets.According to officials, this cannot happen until the weather has passed and it is safe to access the area.No official day or time has been given for these changes to take place but officials said it will happen "sooner rather than later."Built in the late 1960s and standing at 54 stories high, the Plaza Tower has been abandoned for almost 20 years.Neighbors say the building has been a problem for several months, if not years.WDSU investigated the abandoned building and the city's failure to redevelop what some call the black-eye of a developing downtown scene in New Orleans.Stick with wdsu.com for the latest on this breaking story.ORIGINAL STORY: Some call the Plaza Tower the black-eye of a developing downtown scene in New Orleans.The storied Plaza Tower building, which is 45 stories tall and abandoned for almost 20 years, is now sitting dark and stagnant.Some fear it's now becoming a destination for some of the growing homeless population and question why the city isn't doing more to get the iconic building back into commerce.The Plaza Tower is the third tallest building in the state of Louisiana.It is anything but warm and welcoming."I think the city should tear it down and put up something new," a bystander said.Probably the harshest critic of this blighted skyscraper is Casandra Sharpe."It is a building that is in disrepair and has been left to rot," Sharpe said.Sharpe is a Warehouse District activist who can see the tower from her home on Julia Street.Her concern is building security, or what she says is a lack of."When you start getting close to it - you even see people starting coming out of it," said Sharpe.Sharpe said the graffiti and garbage inside the security fencing makes her believe it's becoming a haven for the homeless near downtown."It is part of the problem," said Sharpe.This is a notion city leaders do not disagree with.WDSU Investigate's Travers Mackel asked city leaders why Plaza Tower has not been redeveloped."I have no idea. It's one of the most frustrating things," said New Orleans City Councilman Jay Banks.The building sits on the edge of downtown, Banks council district, and it is booming.High-end condos, shops, restaurants and a grocery store are built nearby in the last decade while Plaza Tower just sits, shut down."I really wish a developer would come in and do something with it," Banks said.WDSU Investigates reviewed almost two decades of real estate records.This year's updated figures on the Orleans Parish assessor's website show the land where the tower sits is currently valued at just $2.6 million, but the assessor says the building is only worth just over $155,000.Cres Gardner is a local real estate agent who specializes in commercial properties and is familiar with the Plaza Tower."The major structural issues and complexity of that project is what's kept it from being put into commerce," Gardner said.Real estate records show how the tower's market value has plummeted.In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina it sold for $20 million dollars, after which there was a big ribbon cutting and the project was set to become high-end condos.But an insurance dispute dragged out among the then-owners, and the plans fizzled.It sold for an undisclosed amount in 2007. Then the Plaza Tower was sold again, in 2011, the reported price was a paltry $650,000.Currently, according to the documents WDSU Investigates pulled at the assessor's office, the owner is listed as "Alexandra Land & Development."State records show Ryan Jaeger is the listed agent.He is the son of well-known local developer Joseph Jaeger.In a written statement, Jaeger said:"Plaza Tower won't be taken to the financial market until after the first of the year. Prior to COVID, we had our prospectus together and had engaged a broker to take the project to financial markets to secure financing. Today the financial markets for hospitality projects are not interested at this time and we are hoping that next year, financing will loosen up.""Can the city ... the council or the mayor do anything to prompt action by this developer?" Mackel said."I'm not sure, legally, we can do anything other than ask them," Banks said.In the last 10 years, two major buildings have been taken down.One by an implosion, or controlled demolition, also known as dropping a building, something done to the old Pallas Suites Hotel at Canal and Claiborne back in 2012 to make way for the sprawling campus of the new University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Hospital.While more recently, in 2019 the partially collapsed Hard Rock Hotel was taken down steel beam by steel beam and then floor by floor with a wrecking hammer.Banks says if developers can't and or won't revitalize the property, he wants the iconic structure razed."I would be in full support of tearing it down, and I know it's history as it was the first skyscraper in New Orleans, but at this point, in the condition that it's in, it's no benefit to anybody," Banks said.But dropping the tower may be almost impossible.WDSU Investigates tracked down Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition Incorporated in Maryland.He's an international expert in controlled demolitions and the man behind the implosion and dropping of the Pallas Hotel in 2012.He tells us that "dropping" tower would be almost impossible, saying:"That type of construction and robust framing, combined with the right site location and lack of a below-grade receptacle (basement) to accept debris from the felling of this tall structure, make it an unlikely candidate for energetic felling. the most likely means of removing this structure would be top-down dismantling. Basically, that is construction in reverse."And that's not the only problem.In 2002, the tower, with floors and floors of office workers, was evacuated and shut down due to the presence of asbestos, widely believed to be a cause of lung and other cancers.Extensive and costly remediation had to be done to the 45t story building.State records show that 4000 cubic yards of asbestos were ultimately removed from the Plaza Tower and taken to a local landfill. That's is enough asbestos to cover a football field to a height of just over 2 feet.On top of that, in 2013, the building was deemed historic, as it was one of the city's first skyscrapers.Under those guidelines, tearing down a historic property is almost impossible.All of this leads to serious concerns for people in this area."All of this hurts our health and welfare downtown and destroys what we are trying to do down here," Sharpe said.That's why city leaders want something done soon.So do those who frequently walk by and see the building."Place is falling apart," a bystander said.