NATCHEZ, Miss. – Negotiations continue for the city to lease its former railroad depot to movie producers who plan to restore it into a restaurant and entertainment venue, but “we’re so close” to a deal being “won and done very soon,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson.
He said Tuesday depot developers John Norris and Tate Taylor plan to spend almost $1 million to renovate and reopen the old Broadway Street train station. This is more than earlier envisioned.
The city has already spent about $900,000 to restore the 106-year-old structure’s exterior.
It’s been a year since the Natchez Board of Aldermen agreed to start negotiations with Norris and Taylor on finishing the city-owned depot’s restoration and bringing it back to life, but various complications – including the COVID public-health crisis – have stalled the process.
Gibson said a Feb. 4 meeting is scheduled with the developers so the lease can be finalized for aldermen to approve soon.
Along with a restaurant, the depot developers envision an amphitheater along the bluff’s edge, a brick patio and public restrooms. The redevelopment will also incorporate the existing plaza on the street side of the depot. The developers expressed hope in November the restaurant will be open this summer.
The passenger-train station was built around 1915 by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad and later owned by Illinois Central Railroad. Passenger-rail service for Natchez ended in the 1940s after World War II. The building became a restaurant — The Sidetrack — in the 1970s.
The building has been empty since 2013, when The Cock of the Walk restaurant and The Old South Trading Post souvenir shop were evicted by the city so the building could be renovated.
Gibson said negotiations also continue for developing docking facilities for the riverboats that are scheduled to return to Natchez after the COVID crisis abates. This is in conjunction with plans to raise part of Silver Street and protect it from the Mississippi River’s high waters.
Three docks on Silver Street are being blueprinted to accommodate river cruise boats that bring passengers to tour Natchez. While Gibson has said the three cruise companies will provide funds for the wharfages and elevating Silver Street, “the devil is in the details” as city officials and company executives meet to hash them out in contract form.
Plans are being drawn for elevating the section of Silver Street past Magnolia Grill. Gibson has said the rebuilt street will be atop a levee-like formation at Silver Street’s lower section before it converges into D.A. Biglane Street leading up to Canal Street. The section would be built up enough to avert the river’s high rises to the record height it reached in 2011, Gibson said. The river has flooded more frequently in recent years to make accessibility to Under the Hill businesses and riverboats more difficult.
American Cruise Lines plans to anchor its boats at the ramp where the Isle of Capri floating casino was formerly berthed, according to Gibson. Viking Cruises plans to build a riverside dock past the end of Silver Street on city-owned property. The American Queen Steamboat Co. plans to dock its boats by the ramp in front of The Camp and Under-the-Hill Saloon.
While cruises have been halted since March 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, ACL and AQSC plan resume their river runs this coming March, according to Gibson. Viking plans to inaugurate its Mississippi River cruises in 2022.
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