Court filings in Jon Carloftis partner dispute delay historic Lexington home auction
A request for a public auction of the historic downtown Lexington home renovated into a showplace for garden design is on hold until at least mid-June.
And it could become a private bidding war instead.
Last month, attorneys for Lexington garden guru Jon Carloftis asked a Fayette County court to set a date for a master commissioner’s sale of Botherum, a downtown home that dates to the 1850s.
The sale was previously ordered by Fayette Circuit Court Judge Julie M. Goodman to resolve the dissolution of the business partnership between Carloftis and Dale Fisher, who have jointly owned the historic house since 2012.
Goodman originally was scheduled to hear the motion on scheduling the sale on April 29 but last week the hearing was delayed until June 17.
Now, Fisher has filed a response opposing the courthouse auction.
“Fisher believes that the sale of Botherum would net the most money for Fisher and Carloftis if sold by a realtor rather the via a public sale,” according to the filing. “Fisher has proposed this solution, but Carloftis refused as he does not want to pay a realtor’s commission on the sale.”
Fisher is asking that Goodman “determine that Botherum should be sold by listing the property for sale and marketing it to potential buyers both in and out of the state rather than being sold via a public sale.”
Botherum at 341 Madison Place now valued at almost $1 million, according to the Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator.
The court found in October 2021 that Carloftis and Fisher, who were not married, were business partners. But the court has yet to issue a ruling on how the assets of the business, including Botherum, should be divided between them.
Fisher’s filing asks the court to issue a decision on their claims on the assets before Botherum is sold.
Goodman previously ruled that because Botherum is an historic property it cannot be partitioned between them to be shared.
Carloftis and Fisher have been in a contentious years-long court battle since their 2018 split. In a previous motion, Carloftis accused Fisher of entering the main house even though the locks had been changed.
In response, Fisher said in his filing that he “has entered the main house at Botherum to retrieve items of personal property that he owns to prevent Carloftis from continuing to dispose of his personal property. Neither owner of Botherum should have the ability to lock the other owner out of the property.”
The house and gardens underwent a massive renovation that made the property a showcase for the well-known Jon Carloftis landscape and garden design business, used for a variety of fundraisers and has been featured in magazines including “Garden and Gun,” “Southern Living,” “Architectural Digest,” “Martha Stewart,” “The Salonniere” and “Keeneland Magazine.” It also was featured in an episode of “Kentucky Life” on KET.
According to the Fayette PVA’s website, the one-story home has three bedrooms, two full baths, a full basement, a pool and a detached garage. The fair cash value is estimated at $925,000.
Botherum was built in 1850 or 1851 for Madison C. Johnson by Lexington architect John McMurtry, to honor Johnson’s late wife, Sally Ann, who had died in childbirth in 1828. A large ginkgo trees on the site is said to have been a gift from Henry Clay; Sally Ann was a sister of emancipationist Cassius Marcellus Clay.
The original 36-acre estate was subdivided to create the Woodward Heights neighborhood. Dr. John Cavendish owned the house from 1983 until he sold it to Carloftis and Fisher in 2012 for $695,000.
Carloftis and Fisher restored the house and grounds and 2013 were honored by the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation with the Landscape Preservation Award.
