NATCHEZ, Miss. – A prospective buyer is interested in acquiring the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, the former Natchez school owned by the city.
Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and aldermen discussed this Tuesday in a session closed to the public, said City Attorney Bob Latham. He declined to publicly identify the potential buyer. State law allows government boards to keep prospective buyers of public properties a secret until the transaction is finalized.
The city has been struggling for years to maintain and rehabilitate the 93-year-old landmark structure, which for 21 years has been the home of the Natchez Festival of Music. A public-private campaign is underway to raise funds for Margaret Martin’s refurbishment.
This comes nearly a year after the state Legislature rescinded $6 million the House and Senate had previously earmarked in 2019 for the aging structure’s renovations
The Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center – named after the school’s former principal – is a state-designated historic landmark built in 1927 as Natchez High School. After the Natchez-Adams School District closed what later became Margaret Martin Junior High School, the music festival moved into the Gothic Revival/Tudor-style building in 1999. The city, festival organization and state Department of Archives and History have spent funds over the years to maintain and repair the building. However, millions more in renovation funds are needed.
To add to the building’s structural woes, vandals or squatters recently wreaked its interior.
An alliance of government and private partners was formed last year to revitalize the building. The group – Friends of the Natchez Centre at Margaret Martin — hired architect Belinda Stewart to design plans for making what’s being called a “landmark center for arts and culture.” Stewart’s plans are scheduled to be publicly presented Thursday 7 p.m. at the Natchez Grand Hotel.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen has previously had prospective takers for the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, but those acquisitions fell through.
The MMPAC is located next to Dunleith, the antebellum Natchez bed-and-breakfast mansion, restaurant and event venue that was purchased in November by the J Collection, a New Orleans-based hotel group that plans to reopen the popular tourist destination. Dunleith closed a year ago after its previous owner went bankrupt.