Sterling Holdings Has Acquired former Budgetel Inn Site

Sterling Holdings LLC has acquired the property at 1410 N. Mack Smith Road, the site of the former Budgetel Inn.

Sterling Holdings LLC is the entity associated with the Gateway Development, of which the current centerpiece is CHI Memorial Stadium, the home of the USL League One Chattanooga Red Wolves.

According to a press release by Sterling Holdings, after foreclosure, Promise One Bank initially put the property under contract with Exit 1 LLC, the business entity responsible for Jordan Crossing. That buyer did not close upon the contract.

The property was then marketed to Sterling Holdings LLC who announced the acquisition of the property on Thursday.

“Sterling Holdings continues its efforts to invest in revitalizing the area with a goal of improving the Tennessee Gateway and making it a featured highlight for eastern Tennessee. The property is currently being evaluated for a significant tenant to the area,” said Bob Martino, President, Sterling Holdings LLC.

Sitting immediately off I-75, the site holds significant redevelopment potential that could turn the parcel from a drain on the local community to a new premier site. 1410 Mack Smith is one of the last remaining large Interstate fronting sites in the area that has seen a significant surge in redevelopment in recent years sparked by the Gateway Development over the past 5 years with the area now featuring CHI Memorial Stadium.

In July of this year, the property was foreclosed upon. This action was almost three years after Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp requested the closure of the extended stay motel citing a high volume of crime and characterizing the business as a public nuisance.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.