Allen Casey's rundown barge headed downstream at last; restaurant's departure opens door for riverfront projects

The Casey barge rounds Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River late Thursday, April 30, 2015, near the base of Lookout Mountain, in this view from Interstate 24.
The Casey barge rounds Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River late Thursday, April 30, 2015, near the base of Lookout Mountain, in this view from Interstate 24.
photo The Casey barge rounds Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River late Thursday, April 30, 2015, near the base of Lookout Mountain, in this view from Interstate 24.

Chattanooga businessman Allen Casey's rundown barge, conceived as a floating restaurant, may end up serving fish after all.

With the barge today moving downriver to Mobile Bay and away from its longtime berth in downtown Chattanooga, its new owner may eventually sink the vessel in the Gulf of Mexico to serve as an artificial reef.

"That would be my first choice," said Will Ladnier, co-owner of Gulfstream Enterprises, which spent the last two days prepping to tow the derelict barge from where it was moored across from Ross's Landing since 2009.

The Mississippi company received final U.S. Coast Guard approval Thursday afternoon for the hookup of a towboat. It started pushing the dilapidated barge, a lightning rod of community criticism, down the Tennessee River about 5:30 p.m.

photo The Casey barge is ready to move with tug attached late Thursday afternoon. Strong wind out of the north northwest created white caps on the Tennessee River.

Bob Doak, the Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau's chief executive, said the city's history is filled with amazing and significant stories, but the barge was "a horror story."

"We have now closed the chapter regarding the Casey barge," said Doak, who among others was a vocal critic of the failure to remove the barge as it fell into more and more disrepair over the years.

What's next, he said, is to focus as a community on the best use of the vacant 11-acre waterfront tract to which the barge was moored to enhance downtown.

The property is seen by real estate experts as easier to sell with the barge gone.

Roger Clark, who works for the Southern Belle Riverboat docked at Ross's Landing, said the barge's departure creates a variety of opportunities.

"It opens the door for a lot of good things," he said, adding he sees the chance to build more downtown housing and even eateries.

photo A tug moves the Casey barge as it begins its journey away from Chattanooga late Thursday afternoon.

Goran Stekovic of Chattanooga said the concept of a restaurant on the river still has merit.

"It would have been nice if it had been remodeled," he said about the Casey barge.

Mike McSpadden, who came in from Rhea County, Tenn., with hopes of seeing the barge sent on its way out of the Scenic City, pointed to it and said, "There's a missed opportunity for a gold mine right there."

Casey, who developed the Chattanooga Choo Choo more than three decades ago, had floated the barge from Pittsburgh to Chattanooga six years ago to turn it into a restaurant. But nothing happened.

He also had proposed a hotel and condominiums on the land. About six acres of the site, which he or his family have an interest in, were earlier put on the market for $11.2 million. Chattanooga businessman Jackson Wingfield also holds some of the land.

More than a year ago, Casey and one of his companies filed for bankruptcy after he was slated to go to trial in a lawsuit brought by a group of former investors in the barge. An effort to sell the barge for $50,000 never panned out.

Chattanooga attorney Jerrold Farinash, named this year as the trustee in the bankruptcy case, secured the services of Gulfstream.

Harry Phillips, a Chattanoogan who coordinated the effort with Gulfstream, helped raise the vessel after it partially sank for the second time this spring.

Phillips said a big reason Gulfstream got the removal job was because it offered to do it without dismantling a two-story structure aboard the barge.

"Will came in and said 'I've been here before. We can do this,'" Phillips said.

Under a U.S. Bankruptcy Court plan, Gulfstream of Biloxi was given ownership of the barge and was paid $195,000 to remove it.

Gulfstream plans to take the barge down the Tennessee River to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and then to Mobile Bay. The barge likely will be scrapped if it doesn't become a reef, officials said.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

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