Fast fact
The Casey barge is actually two-and-a-half such vessels which were put together to make up an entertainment site in Pittsburgh, from where it was towed to Chattanooga in 2009.
Workmen are conducting last-minute tests on businessman Allen Casey's derelict barge -- the so-called "eyesore on the North Shore" may be towed away today from downtown Chattanooga.
If tests prove positive and more delay isn't needed, Gulfstream Enterprises will start pulling the vessel down the Tennessee River using a towboat as well as a companion barge to help navigate.
Plans to remove the barge Wednesday from its longtime mooring across from Ross's Landing gave way to a decision to do something of a test run today, said Harry Phillips, who is coordinating the effort.
"We'll pull it off the shoreline and check all the stuff," he said. If all goes well, they may start its departure, Phillips said. Or, they may re-dock the barge and perform any fixes which are needed before it leaves.
Plans are to start work at dawn so that workers can get in a full day of sun, Phillips said.
Jackson Wingfield, an owner of some of the Manufacturers Road property to which the barge is moored, said that Casey's idea of putting a floating eatery aboard the vessel wasn't a bad one.
"It could have been a nice restaurant," he said. "But it turned into a nightmare. It's a sad ending to what could have been."
The barge was brought to the city in 2009 by Casey, a Chattanooga businessman who developed the Chattanooga Choo Choo more than three decades ago. He sought to make it a restaurant, but nothing was built and the vessel fell into disrepair.
Casey and one of his companies filed for bankruptcy more than a year ago after he was slated to go to trial in a lawsuit brought by a group of former investors in the barge. Casey also had proposed a hotel and condominiums on about 10 acres of vacant land to which the barge is moored. About six acres of the site were earlier put on the market for $11.2 million.
Under a U.S. Bankruptcy Court plan, Gulfstream was to be given ownership of the barge and be paid $195,000 to remove it. The company was given a May 15 deadline to do so.
Gulfstream, a Biloxi, Miss., company, plans are to take the barge down the Tennessee River to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and then to Mobile Bay. Ultimately, the barge is expected to wind up at a small shipyard belonging to Gulfstream in Biloxi where it may be scrapped.
Phillips said Gulfstream coordinated with TVA to raise the water level so the tests could be run.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.