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The Luther Hotel in Palacios may soon have a new owner.

The administrator for the estate of late hotel owner Jack Harold Findley resigned and the court will now appoint a new administrator over the estate. The administrator will answer directly to the judge. Corpus Christi-based Ed Rachal Foundation, which wanted to buy and demolish the hotel, has withdrawn its demand to demolish the hotel.

The foundation had a sales contract of $1.4 million to purchase the hotel from the now former administrator, Annie Findley Jones, of Alabama, according to court documents, but the sales contract’s demolition clause expired on Aug. 31.

“The wrecking ball is no longer in the picture right now,â€� said ×ã½»ÊÓƵ attorney John Griffin, who represents a group of hotel employees who believe Findley’s estate failed to properly maintain the hotel following his death. “This is a very important development. We’ve long felt it best that the court, the judge, was making final decisions about the hotel, and now that’s going to happen.â€�

A new administrator will be appointed by the court over the estate in the coming days, and with it, the likelihood the 120-year-old hotel will see many more revolutions around the sun, Griffin said. Since the administrator will be dependent and have to answer to the judge, it is less likely the hotel will go to investors who want to demolish it.

“There is no one at this point that thinks it is in the best interest of the estate or the family to demolish that building,� he said. “The offers that will be coming in for the hotel will be coming from investors and others that want to renovate it and make it a destination hotel for the Texas Gulf Coast. My sense is the hotel is safe to this point.�

There is still the possibility of someone swooping in with a large enough bid to buy and demolish it, but it wouldn’t make much business sense to do so, Griffin said.

“It doesn’t make economic sense to demolish that building,� he said. “Its bones are good. Its structural integrity is sound. It would take $5- or $10- or $15 million to build anything close to that hotel if you were starting from scratch. It needs interior work. It needs to be renovated in terms of its electric service, its HVAC service, but the structure of the hotel is in really good shape and of course it is a really beautiful building. One that can be a real important destination.�

New investors are already submitting bids for the hotel, Griffin said. However, the timeline for a new sale is unknown until the new estate administrator is appointed.

The new administrator will likely try to clean up the hotel that has sat virtually abandoned and not maintained for two years since Findley died, he said. Cleaning it up would allow the administrator to attract more buyers as they showcase the property to potential bidders.

There is a large community of support that is more than willing to help out with the clean-up if the administrator should call on them, Griffin said.

“All of the parties are now on the same page,� he said. “We all want to preserve the hotel. We all want it sold to a person who will offer the best price, and we all want this estate to be settled quickly so the family can move onto better places and honor the memory of Jack Findley.�