A community meeting and open house on the long-empty Hotel Hinton in downtown Edenton has been scheduled for this Saturday evening.
Organizers say they have invited representatives of the building’s owners, SAGA Realty and Construction, Preservation North Carolina, along with members of the Edenton Town Council and Town Manager Corey Gooden, to be available to meet with the public at 116 East King Street, near the Historic Chowan County Courthouse, beginning at 5 p.m.
The Hotel Hinton, built in 1926 on a site along East King Street occupied by inns and hotels since the 1750s that was most recently used as offices for Chowan County government, was sold by the county to Preservation North Carolina and then to SAGA in 2015.
A proposal released in 2015 including turning the Hinton into a hotel and conference center with 65 rooms, a rooftop lounge and restaurant.
Other than a new roof that was installed in 2021, little work has been done to the building since the purchase according to a number of residents that spoke at a Edenton Town Council meeting in January, The Chowan Herald reported.
SAGA CEO Sumit Gupta told The Chowan Herald in January that a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors had made financing the project more difficult, and that he is committed to seeing the renovation through.
Along with Saturday’s community meeting, a petition is being circulated that calls on Preservation North Carolina to exercise an option in the deed of sale to purchase back the hotel.
“Instead of restoring the Hotel Hinton, SAGA has neglected the property, subjecting it to broken windows, torn doors, criminal activity and vandalism,” the petition reads.
“Through its horrible treatment of the Hotel Hinton, SAGA has not only violated the terms of the deed, SAGA has violated the trust of the citizens of Edenton. We deserve better. The Hotel Hinton deserves better.”
