Cleveland's efforts to remove an eyesore from a long-abandoned piece of near-lakefront property are in limbo.

This week, more than a month after a city-hired contractor began razing the old Howard Johnson Motor Inn off the East Shoreway near East 55th Street, a judge temporarily halted demolition.

The order came at the request of the property owners, who have proposed converting the 12-story structure into condos. A hearing is scheduled for next week before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle.

Cleveland Law Director Robert Triozzi said the old hotel has been condemned since 2001. Like previous owners, the current owner, Lakeview 2006 LLC, has not maintained the property, he added.

"The city has complied with all notice requirements despite the owners' efforts to avoid receipt of certified mail," Triozzi said. "It took a wrecking ball to finally grab their attention that the city and the community are tired of their failure to meet their legal responsibilities."

Eric Zagrans, an attorney for Lakeview, suggested that his clients were not given a fair chance to get their condo project going. The investors, he said, were unaware of previous violations and demolition orders in April 2007 when they bought the site for $2.5 million.

The credit crunch delayed the proposed $20 million development. By the time Lakeview secured financing earlier this year, city officials no longer were willing to listen, Zagrans said.

Because of its location, the land long has been considered ripe for redevelopment.

The building sits on a bluff along South Marginal Road and overlooks Lake Erie, the East 55th Street Marina, Burke Lakefront Airport, Gordon Park and downtown.

It also is near the proposed relocation for the Port of Cleveland.

Built in 1965, the hotel featured a lake view from each room. But the 2.7-acre property changed hands frequently beginning the late 1970s, and the hotel closed for good in the early '90s. Since then, none of the many plans to revive the site has materialized.

Last fall, The Plain Dealer reported that preliminary plans on file at City Hall showed that new developers wanted to convert the hotel into 140 housing units. A more ambitious rendering added three floors to the top of the building, nearby underground parking and townhomes.

"Would the city and the residents rather have a vacant lot, or a would they rather have a $20 million condominium project?" asked Zagrans.

But Jamie Baker, executive director of the St. Clair-Superior Development Corp., said the lack of progress at the site has neighbors eager to see the building razed.

"Ample time has gone by with the property sitting vacant, and with the building falling apart around it," Baker said. "It looks the same as it looked a decade ago."