The Historic Natchez Foundation is proud to announce that it has sold the Prentiss Club to Sterling and Shannon Gay, owners of Loss Prevention Services (LPS).
Loss Prevention Services is a technologically enabled information management company and services broker offering banking and financial institutions a range of skip locate, repossession, and transport services.
The Prentiss Club will become part of the LPS campus in downtown Natchez and will provide housing for out-of-town clients, employees, and guests of LPS. It will also provide sorely needed space for employee training.
Built in 1905 in the Second Renaissance Revival Style, the Prentiss Club is one of the city’s most architecturally and historically significant buildings. It was built for the city’s most prestigious men’s club with its founding members being almost equally divided between Jewish and gentile. The architect for the building was Francis J. MacDonnell of the New Orleans firm of Soule and MacDonnell. Throughout its life, the building has served a variety of uses.
Built as a private club, it has been a restaurant, nightclub, event venue, Masonic lodge, and a luxurious private residence when interior designer and antiques dealer Buzz Harper lived in the building and decorated it in his signature ornate style. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Considered a total loss after a 2018 fire by its insurers, the owners donated the 12,000 square foot building to the Historic Natchez Foundation. The Foundation rebuilt the roof, restored the exterior, and cleaned out and stabilized the interior of the building. The rehabilitation project will be completed using historic tax credits.
Historic Natchez Foundation executive director Carter Burns said, “We are thrilled that Sterling and Shannon have acquired the Prentiss Club. They have a great vision for the building and we can’t wait to see this important landmark come back to life.”
Sterling Gay said, “Shannon and I would like to express our gratitude to the Historic Natchez Foundation for awarding us the right to purchase the Prentiss Club. We are equally grateful for the City of Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi Development Authority, Natchez Workforce Development and Natchez, Inc., for their help throughout our growth and development of our corporate headquarters in our hometown of Natchez. We are eager to restore the Prentiss Club to a state of beauty and functionality the building deserves. This purchase will allow us to further our expansion in downtown Natchez by bringing more job opportunities for the citizens of Adams County and beyond.”
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