Three downtown hoteliers have gone to court to challenge the city’s deal with the McKibbon Hotel Group to build a hotel on Haywood Street.

Owners of the Hotel Indigo, the Renaissance Hotel and the Sheraton Four Points filed a lawsuit in Buncombe County Superior Court, seeking to block the controversial sale approved last fall.

City Council voted to sell the three-quarters of an acre near the historic Basilica of St. Lawrence for $2.6 million, minus an allowance of up to $299,000 to cover the costs of tearing down old buildings now on the site.

McKibbon plans to build a 140-room, seven-story hotel with retail space on the site. Based in Gainesville, Ga., McKibbon previously developed the Aloft Hotel on Biltmore Avenue.

The lawsuit contends the city did not follow state law governing private sales, selling the Haywood Street property for less than fair market value.