Depot, Eola plans continue with delays; City commission to review plan to demolish old hospital

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Aldermen have revised the lease of Natchez’ old railroad depot as developers have encountered delays in renovating the city-owned building and converting it into a restaurant.

The new agreement gives movie producers Tate Taylor and John Norris until next October to have the building open for business, but that’s a deadline subject to being extended, said city attorney Bryan Callaway.

Taylor and Norris had planned to restore the century-old building and converting it into an eatery and entertainment venue by last autumn. However, the development was stalled by cost inflation and supply snags.

In reviewing the revised lease Tuesday with Mayor Dan Gibson and the Board of  Aldermen, the developers’ attorney said they’re awaiting the arrival of kitchen equipment before doing the construction work needed to renovate the old Broadway Street train station. They’re looking forward to making “a really good use of the property consistent with the city plans y’all have developed,” Scott Slover told the mayor and aldermen.

The city’s master plan calls for the bluff area overlooking the Mississippi River being an entertainment district. Slover noted the Taylor-Norris business partnership has purchased the parking lot between the depot and the large city-owned lawn on the north end of Broadway Street.

A state-designated Mississippi Landmark, the former passenger train station was built around 1915. Its exterior was renovated in 2016 by the city, but the building has remained an empty shell as the Board of Aldermen held up plans for getting a developer to complete the interior’s restoration. The board in December 2019 selected Norris and Taylor to pursue their plans for the depot.

Another downtown Natchez development has also been stalled by inflation. The Eola hotel’s planned renovation has encountered higher-than-expected costs, but Gibson expressed confidence it’ll eventually be done.

“We’ve been assured it will happen,” the mayor said.

City officials and hotel developers last summer announced with much fanfare that the deteriorating 1927 downtown landmark will be refurbished to reopen as a hotel and restaurant. The Eola has been closed since 2014.

In a related development, the city last year acquired the adjacent Fry building with plans to tear down the deteriorating structure and build a parking garage for the hotel’s use. Gibson said that might continue as planned regardless of how the Eola’s plans progress.

An unrelated proposal calls for demolishing another city landmark: the former Natchez General Hospital. The Natchez Preservation Commission today is scheduled to hear Ginger Hyland’s request to tear it down.

Hyland purchased the dilapidated Oak Street building last month from the city for $105,000.The 1925 building served as Natchez’ main hospital until 1960, when what’s now Merit Health Natchez was built. Hyland owns The Towers antebellum estate behind the old hospital.

Demolishing buildings in the city’s historic district requires the permission of the Natchez Preservation Commission.