A Mississippi Supreme Court decision clears the way for the Mississippi Hardware building on Mulberry Street to be sold, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Wednesday.

The building is across the street from the Vicksburg Convention Center.

No buyer has been named.

“The supreme court ruled something on it yesterday. It cleared the title so it can be sold, I think,” Flaggs said. “It opens up the opportunity to be sold.”

The case, titled “Flowers v. Boolos” involved the authority of the estate’s co-executors and trustees to borrow $2.02 million from a family trust established by business owner James Oldrum Smith to pay the estate’s taxes.

A March 30, 2011, Warren County Chancery Court decision allowed the estate’s co-executors to borrow from the trust to pay the estate’s taxes and administrative expenses, and allowed the co-executors to extend and renew the loan, which is now about $2.3 million.

The heirs appealed the ruling to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which upheld the chancellor’s decision.

Flaggs said the decision means “it (the suit) has been resolved and you can get a clear title, because no one was buying, because you couldn’t get a clear title.”

Smith died in 2006, and Mississippi Hardware closed the building on Mulberry Street October 2013 after 75 years in Vicksburg.

Known as an outlet for hard-to-find tools such as wrench sockets, drill bits, and off-size nails, the store was in its third location since its establishment in 1935.

The building once housed another since-departed Vicksburg hardware outlet, O’Neill McNamara, and M. Fine and Sons Mfg. garment factory.

The building has been the subject of speculation for some time since its closing as the potential site for a hotel because of its location across the street from the convention center.