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Removal of barge an opportunity to remodel ‘front porch’ of Chattanooga Casey barge guardian now without a mission
Chattanooga businessman Allen Casey’s beleaguered river barge, which was pushed out of the city two weeks ago, was expected to have reached its destination in Biloxi, Miss., late Wednesday.
Harry Phillips, a Chattanoogan who coordinated efforts to ready the barge for transport down the Tennessee River, said Gulfstream Enterprises was to temporarily dock the rundown vessel at its facility.
Officials have said the barge could be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico and made into an artificial reef or scrapped.
The barge was brought to the city in 2009 by Casey, who developed the Chattanooga Choo Choo more than three decades ago. He sought to make it a floating restaurant, but nothing was built and the vessel fell into disrepair where it was moored across from Ross’s Landing.