NATCHEZ, Miss. – The state Department of Transportation has approved the city’s plans to build a new intersection on Seargent Prentiss Drive to accommodate a new shopping center being planned near Walmart on land city officials hope to sell to developers.
Mayor Dan Gibson said Tuesday he received state transportation officials’ verbal OK with a written approval to follow for the new intersection, which is considered a key for the Tennessee-based developers to build the shopping center. To ensure it’s easily accessible, plans call for the existing intersection between Walmart and the Natchez High and Middle Schools to be moved slightly northward. This requires the Mississippi DOT’s approval since it’s on a state-maintained thoroughfare.
Gibson has said this is among the various prerequisites needed for Horne Properties of Knoxville to buy the land for the planned retail development. “We are contracted with Horne, but their option to purchase is contingent on getting these issues resolved,” the mayor said last month.
Horne envisions the city-owned property next to Walmart becoming another retail center for Natchez. The 30-acre tract surrounds the old Feltus house where the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Natchez post was located for several years.
Horne has developed more than 140 properties, including shopping centers in Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, Oklahoma and North Carolina, according to the company’s website. They’re anchored by such chain stores as Ross Dress for Less, Dollar Tree and Hibbett Sports – many adjacent to Walmarts. There are hopes that Horne’s Natchez retail site will have such stores as TJ Maxx and Aldi.
While Gibson said Tuesday the city could bear some upfront engineering costs for reconfiguring the intersection, he pointed to revenues the city would receive from selling the land to Horne. Costs for building the new intersection could also be shared by the developer and the state while the city could provide tax incentives to help pay for the overall retail development, Gibson said last month.
The new intersection, which he noted is to be about 100 feet from the existing one, would also provide access to Walmart and the Natchez school campuses.
The property that Horne has optioned to buy was given to the city in 2015 by the state. The Natchez Board of Aldermen subsequently put it up for sale for an initial asking price of $4.5 million.
State law requires selling the property with revenues to be divided equally between the city, the National Park Service and the state Department of Archives & History. The money is to be used for unspecified enhancements of the Natchez riverfront, the Natchez National Historical Park and other historic properties.
The tract was acquired by the NPS many years ago for the Natchez Trace Parkway but was never needed. The federal government gave the land to the state, which in turn donated it to Natchez.
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