Natchez aldermen endorse tax incentives for renovating old Prentiss Club, City Bank buildings

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Plans for turning the old Prentiss Club and City Bank   buildings into hotels are being backed by the Natchez Board of Aldermen as tax incentives are pursued to help the developers finance the new ventures.

The board voted Tuesday to move forward with the public-financing measures, which filmmakers Tate Taylor and John Norris are seeking to renovate the two century-old downtown landmarks on Pearl and Franklin streets. They’re also converting the old train station on Broadway into a restaurant.

Taylor and Norris are leasing the city-owned railroad depot and have also acquired the Prentiss Club building, which the Historic Natchez Foundation had been preserving since gutted by fire in 2018.

While the aldermen had already reviewed their redevelopment plans at a board meeting last week, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson noted Tuesday that the tax incentives being sought would also be used for helping restore the old City Bank & Trust Co. bank building.

The mayor said plans call for the Prentiss Club and City Bank buildings being restored to become “luxury boutique hotels” and a spa.

All total, he said, the Taylor-Norris projects entail about $15 million in private investments for that area of town. This includes Broadway Street properties along the Mississippi River bluff — where the railroad depot and Smoot’s bar are — as well as the nearby properties on Pearl and Franklin streets.

“It’s going to create major jobs,” Gibson said of what’s being dubbed by city officials as the “Broadway Entertainment District.”

If fulfilled, the redevelopment will also bring back to life three architectural gems in need of restoration.

The City Bank & Trust Company building dates to 1904 and was originally a hardware store, according to Historic Natchez Foundation records. In 1926, City Bank remodeled the Franklin Street building as its new home. Its design introduced modern Neo-Classicism architecture to Natchez. The building has been mostly vacant and deteriorating since the bank moved out in the 1980s. It has since briefly housed a restaurant and been used as office and storage space.

Built in 1905, the Prentiss Club on Pearl Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was a center of Natchez social life in the early 1900s. TheItalian Renaissance-style building was severely damaged by fire in 2018 after owners Fred and Melinda Kent had just renovated it. They donated it to the Historic Natchez Foundation for it to preserve and find a new owner. Taylor and Norris acquired it in December.

A state-designated Mississippi landmark, the railroad depot on Broadway Street was built around 1915 by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad. Later a restaurant and tourist-souvenir shop, it was vacated in 2013 for the city to restore its exterior in 2016. After five years of various complications, the Board of Aldermen in April finally approved leasing the city-owned building for Taylor and Norris to refurbish it and the adjacent property as a culinary and entertainment venue.

Natchez aldermen are backing a tax increment financing (TIF) measure for the buildings to be commercially developed. This would involve borrowing $2.5 million through a bond issue for the Taylor-Norris projects. Local property and sales tax revenues generated by the new developments would be reimbursed to their businesses to repay the loan.

As the mayor and aldermen support the use of this public-financing tool for a private enterprise, it will not add to the city’s debt, Gibson said.

“The city does not bear any risk, and the city is not (repaying) the bond,” he said.

While the TIF bond is for a private venture, a public hearing is required before the Board of Aldermen can give it final approval.

Another tax incentive being sought by Taylor and Norris is through a state tourism-development program that rebates to them the sales tax revenues generated by the new businesses.

While the tax breaks mean a loss of revenues for city coffers, the business ventures they help would revitalize Natchez, Gibson said. “The opportunities are amazing. This is one of the opportunities,” he said.