News

Citing dozens of code violations, city council condemns Cascades hotel

A photo chief county building inspector Crystal Lyda cited at the Hendersonville City Council meeting showed an exit blocked by a 2x4. [HENDERSON COUNTY INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT]

By Bill Moss, Published: June 10, 2025

The Hendersonville City Council voted unanimously last week to condemn the Cascades Mountain Resort on Sugarloaf Road, two months after the city fire marshal ordered the hotel closed for safety and public health reasons.

Lew Holloway, the city’s community development director, explained the city’s authority under state law to condemn commercial buildings based on conditions that are “dangerous or injurious to the public health, safety and welfare of the community” and then introduced a lengthy account of city and county inspections that turned up dozens of code violations and health and safety hazards.

An inspection on Dec. 4 by city code enforcement officer Kathy Bragg and John Gillespie, assistant fire marshal, turned up “unpermitted work, blocked exits, broken windows, non-functioning HVAC (and) a number of things that were concerning from a commercial maintenance perspective,” Holloway said. As chief code enforcement officer, he issued a formal complaint based on “dilapidation and decay, lack of adequate ventilation, inadequate egress, fire code violations, broken glass, inadequate electrical wiring.”

On Jan. 16, the city “did a comprehensive site inspection in tandem with the property owner to outline all of the things that would need to be addressed to remove the violation,” Holloway said. At a hearing on Feb. 13 “no presentation of repair work was made or completed by the owners. On Feb. 28 we issued an order requiring all corrections to be made by March 28.”

Among the problems that needed correcting were “exits chained or barricaded, fire alarm systems that were inoperable, sprinkler system that was inoperable; fire department connection, the FDC, which was blocked; smoke detectors inoperable or missing, electrical code violations, exposed and spliced wiring, including spliced appliance cords being used for electrical wiring,” Holloway said.

85 photos of code violations

Crystal Lyda, chief building inspector for the county, narrated many of more than 85 photos inspectors made of code violations and safety hazards: “This is panic hardware (push bars that open doors to the outside) that was not installed properly. Half the panic hardware is missing, so it’s not going to operate properly in the event of an emergency. … This is electrical wiring. It’s not terminated correctly.…This was a dishwasher duct. Inside that duct there is an electrical box that is open so it’s being exposed to the weather with electrical wires in it. … There was a smell of strong gas in the kitchen area, we’re not sure where it’s coming from, but the smell was pretty strong. We’ve asked the mechanical contractor to evaluate that. … Photo 25 is another egress that’s blocked with a 2x4 so you wouldn’t be able to get out at all. … This is the fitness room that was not permitted. There was no permits pulled for this. There’s no sprinkler heads in it. There’s no HVAC. … This is the hot tub equipment room where there’s a box fan that’s laying on top of the ceiling, connected by a drop cord, which I’m guessing was trying to provide some sort of ventilation.”

The indoor pool and hot tub also failed inspection, county Environmental Health Supervisor Seth Swift told the council.

“We said ‘you can’t be open for anything from us,’” he said. “We suspended the permits immediately. Theoretically, if they get everything back together again, we could lift the suspensions, but we would probably do inspections.”

‘Unhoused’ people live in annex

City Fire Marshal Nate Young said fire inspectors had made 17 visits to the property from June of last year to this month. Even after the city barred occupancy of the hotel on April 11, employees or others had been living in the rooms.

“This has been an issue since the day that we issued the notice of evacuation,” Young said. “We’ve been back there a handful of times to try and get people removed from the building.

“The building in the back (the annex) is unsecured,” he added. “We and the police department have run the unhoused out of there quite frequently. There’s power in the building, there’s water in the building. That building has never had a certificate of occupancy. So historically that building should never have been occupied. The building needs to be secured. It needs to have power removed and utilities removed to the point where nobody can get in there and live inside the building.”

SUBHED

‘If they walk away, nobody wins'

Attorney Michael Edney said he had just been hired to represent the property owners on April 19 “so I’m still trying to get my feet wet.”

“It’s going to take a good bit of time to do what needs to be done,” he told the council. “One question I think you asked that wasn’t answered. Were there licensed folks working on it? Absolutely there are.

“From what I’ve been told, my folks have committed between $250,000 and $300,000 now out of their pocket already. Another $60,000 plus is going to have to be paid, which they’re willing to pony up and pay. They’d be crazy not to because of the investment they’ve got in it. If they walk away from it, nobody wins. … It’s taken them a lot to get things going — partially because they’re not from around here, they don’t know who to call, how to call.”

Earlier in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to reject a rezoning request from a potential new owner to convert the hotel into 100 studio, 10 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom apartments.

Jacob Glover, director of operations for Miami-based Pace Living LLC, said the project would help meet the city’s demand for affordable housing. Amenities contained in the developer’s description included the indoor pool and hot tub, a gym, shared work space and a movie theater. He projected rents would be $1,100 to $1,200 a month.

The council didn’t buy it. Members voted unanimously to deny the rezoning request after Mayor pro tem Jennifer Hensley expressed objections to plans for dwellings as small as 300 square feet.

“I have a problem with very condensed living spaces like this along the highway corridor with crime and trafficking so I’m not going to support this,” she said.

Owners spending ‘money out of pocket’

Edney, who is also a county commissioner, referred to the council’s vote.

“A little bit ago, you folks rejected a zoning request that would change the use of it,” he said. “I think that puts more emphasis on (the current owners) now to speed things up and get things going. It’s going to be shut down until it’s safe. My folks wouldn’t have it any other way but we need to get it opened up as soon as we can to get some income because these folks are (spending) money out of pocket, and they’ve got to get some income coming back in.”

Council members said no to Edney’s request to delay action on the condemnation until their July 3 meeting.

“They’ve had plenty of opportunities and enough time to have addressed these issues,” Melinda Lowrance said.

Hensley added: “They completely failed at what they’ve been doing. There have been complaints over there for years and they’ve done nothing.”

“There’s no way all the things we saw in those photos are going to get done in the next month,” Lyndsey Simpson said. “It’s just a pattern of negligence.”

The council voted unanimously to condemn the property for life safety reasons and code violations and require owners to comply with conditions set forth in the city’s Feb. 21 order.