City to Inspect Mountaineer Inn After Radify Asheville LLC Ignored Court Order

The City of Asheville planned a code enforcement inspection of the defunct Mountaineer Inn on Tunnel Road after a default judgment filed Feb. 4 in Buncombe County Superior Court gave defendant Radify Asheville LLC 30 days to remove trash, weeds and other violations, a deadline that ran to March 5. City Attorney Brad Branham said the owner failed to respond to the city’s November lawsuit and the city would assess whether further action is necessary.

“We at the City are going to be sending a compliance team to investigate the situation to make a determination whether or not all of the issues have been resolved. I suspect it is unlikely. If the issues have not been resolved, we have to determine what additional steps the city will have to take to abate the issues ourselves,” Branham said in comments to local media describing the planned visit.

The city’s legal action began with a complaint filed Nov. 14 after the sanitation division sent warnings beginning in June and issued civil penalties in September that reached the $5,000 maximum before the city brought suit. According to reporting summarizing the court order, the default judgment included a “mandatory injunction requiring Radify to remove trash and weeds on the property and take any other action necessary to bring it into compliance with the city’s solid waste ordinance within 30 days.”

Brad Branham also told reporters by email that “The City's Code Enforcement staff have been working diligently to rectify issues on this property regarding upkeep and sanitation. Despite these attempts, the property remains out of compliance,” underscoring the city’s position ahead of the inspection.

Financial pressure on the site has mounted: Buncombe County records cited by local outlets show a delinquent property tax bill of about $29,000 with nearly $1,000 in interest accrued, and county officials say contacting an outside attorney is imminent to pursue collection. If Asheville abates the property itself, the city can file a lien against the Mountaineer Inn to recover abatement costs.

The motel has also been the scene of a criminal incident during the enforcement fight. Early morning Feb. 5, Asheville Police charged Christopher Sadler, 28, with first-degree arson and breaking and entering after officers extinguished a fire in a vacant room and took Sadler into custody. APD spokesperson Rick Rice said damage “was limited to the one room that Sadler was in.”

Photographs taken Jan. 5, 2026 show chain-link fencing around the Mountaineer Inn. Radify Asheville LLC is named as the defendant in court filings and is described in reporting as a defunct business entity; separately, news coverage notes LOGE Camps purchased the 1939 motel in May 2023 for $6.1 million and had planned renovations, though a LOGE representative could not be reached for comment. The city’s compliance-team visit and any subsequent abatement or lien filings will determine whether the municipality must shoulder cleanup costs and pursue recovery through liens or county tax-collection measures.