After a daylong trial, a Hamilton County judge on Friday said he'd decide later on a lawsuit involving the eventual ownership of the historic St. George Hotel site on Chattanooga's Southside.
Circuit Court Judge Kyle Hedrick told lawyers for Marta Alder and Donnie Hutcherson that he'd give them until Dec. 17 to submit additional arguments.
Alder bought the dilapidated and vacant 95-year-old building in 2013 and has plans for a new hotel. She sued Hutcherson, managing partner at the city's biggest locally owned accounting firm, Henderson Hutcherson & McCullough, earlier this year in a dispute over the property.
Court papers show Hutcherson loaned her $700,000 in 2017 to get the project started. Alder said in the suit she tried to repay Hutcherson, but he wouldn't accept the money and rather wanted to take ownership of the 1445 Market St. location across the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
But Hutcherson, in a counterclaim, said he was exercising his right to buy the site in accordance with an option agreement in the contract.
"As part of our contract, both sides understood that if she was unable to secure the funding necessary for her development plan, I had the option to acquire the property," he said. Hutcherson said that "from the beginning, my loan was to help her move forward with her development and restoration plans for the property."
On Friday, Alder said she told Hutcherson she needed more time to get a bank loan to finance the new hotel because experts indicated she couldn't save the existing facade and would have to build anew.
"I was praying for that," she said about a possible extension she wanted Hutcherson to give her in late 2018.
Hutcherson attorney Gary Patrick said the option agreement was "very specific" that Hutcherson would have the right to purchase the site if Alder failed to obtain the development loan in the option agreement.
He said his client has demonstrated his interest in historical buildings. For example, the accounting firm is located in a renovated freight train depot nearby on Market Street.
But Alder attorney Bill Horton said he didn't think Hutcherson is a preservationist.
"He's going to sit on the property and speculate," he said.
The former St. George Hotel has been vacant since about 1980, and fire damaged the building in 2004. Alder said she bought the site to renovate the building and put up a 55-room hotel.
The suit said Hutcherson was given the option to purchase in the event Alder "does not receive and close on a development loan on or before Dec. 8, 2018."
She said in her lawsuit she was ready to pay off all amounts owed under the loan agreement. But Hutcherson said he was inclined to exercise his option, take the property and build his own project using the facade for an office building and restaurant, according to court papers.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.