NATCHEZ, Miss. – The company planning to bring TraceTown back to life has identified nine businesses plus several smaller stores interested in locating at the six-decades-old Natchez shopping center, according to a representative of the Tennessee-based developer.
Meeting Monday with the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Chris Gouras said Noon Real Estate has persuaded “retailers to say that they wanted to be here.”
TJ Maxx is among retailers occupying other Noon-developed shopping centers, which total more than 25 with such stores as Marshalls, HomeGoods, Academy Sports and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Noon has a $25 million revitalization plan for TraceTown, which has been dilapidated and largely vacant for years. Noon is seeking a financial incentive from Natchez and Adams County officials. The city and county boards have agreed to let local taxes owed by Noon be redirected to help pay for its development project.
This entails borrowing about $6 million through bonds. They would be repaid with sales and property taxes generated by the new development that would otherwise go to city and county coffers. For Adams County, the amount would be about $170,000 more than the $33,000 it gets in land taxes from the derelict TraceTown property, according to Gouras.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen last week took steps designating TraceTown an urban renewal area enabling the developers to help finance the project through the use of a state program to rejuvenate blighted areas.
Noon “needs this (tax) incentive to make this work,” said Gouras, a public financing consultant representing the company based in Chattanooga, Tenn.
County supervisors’ approval of this Monday came after they closed the public out of their discussions of the TraceTown redevelopment plans. As they initially expressed qualms about approving the incentive, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson came to the meeting to resolve any concerns.
In what’s being described as TraceTown redevelopment’s Phase 2, Noon’s plans complement what’s already begun for building a Hobby Lobby store. It’ll be where Sears once stood near Regions bank and Walgreens.
Natchez businessman Jimmy Smith bought the property in 2023 and unveiled plans in April for Hobby Lobby and other retailers. Existing structures are being demolished – except for the U.S. Post Office branch – to make space for the new construction. Plans have the Hobby Lobby store being built by next spring.
On Monday, Gouras presented county supervisors with architectural renderings of what Noon Real Estate plans to build as soon as financial arrangements are secured.
Up to $6.5 million in urban renewal bonds could be issued by the city but with Noon repaying the bondholders. The debt would be repaid with the property and sales tax revenues the new business developments regenerate atthe city’sonce-premier shopping center on Seargent Prentiss Drive.
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