JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Lifelong Jackson residents are concerned about the condition of an abandoned hotel in the capital city.

Angie Williams, who lives in Jackson, said she and her husband are concerned about the impression Hotel O gives to people when they drive by it.

“I just don’t want it to be, you know, have a black eye. I know if I were driving through a city that I’m not familiar with, and I saw something like this, I would automatically have a bad impression,” said Williams.

Melissa Faith Payne, communications director for the City of Jackson, said the ideal goal is to demolish the hotel.

“You can’t just walk into a facility and tear it down just because it’s an eyesore. There’s red tape that has to go. You have to go through that red tape,” Payne explained.

Hotel O is located on I-55 South and has been in litigation for a couple of years. Payne said it’s a process when working to tear down a hotel.

“You have to find who the owner is. Then once you find out who the owner is, you have to find out where the owner is. Then you have to reach out to the owner to pass out these when there are code violations,” she said.

The owner of the hotel is Noah Muthana, who the city has been battling in court.

Williams said she’s concerned about the hotel and understands this has been a battle for quite sometime.

Payne said Jackson’s Code Enforcement Office has been working on this particular project.

“It’s currently in litigation right now, so it’s in the courts, and it’s just a matter of the owner stepping forward,” she said.

Payne said it takes a lot of paperwork to track down the owner and get the owner to comply with the court.