Sterling Holdings recently purchased for $4.5 million the property at 1410 N. Mack Smith Road, site of the former Budgetel extended-stay hotel in East Ridge that shut down in 2022 after officials declared it a public nuisance.
Bob Martino, president of Sterling Holdings and developer of the neighboring Red Wolves soccer stadium and Gateway townhomes, said in a press release that the Budgetel site is being evaluated for a “significant tenant to the area.”
The Budgetel property went into foreclosure at the end of June, almost three years after District Attorney Coty Wamp’s office requested the motel’s closure. The high volume of crime on the property and the unreasonable strain it put on law enforcement resources were among the reasons cited for the closure.
After the hotel was forced to shut down, the ownership was required to update the court on renovations and improvements made to the property before it could reopen. At least one of the four buildings was reopened, but the hotel never became fully operational.
Lodge of Chattanooga, which has owned the property since 2016, made several unsuccessful attempts before and after the shutdown to rezone the property from commercial to multifamily residential use in order to convert the hotel into apartments.