City officials discussing ways to help finance old Natchez hotel’s renovation

NATCHEZ, Miss. – City officials are discussing various steps with Eola developers for Natchez to help finance the closed hotel’s renovation.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said “bonding strategies” are being planned with owner Rob Lubin like what the city has done in the past to accommodate the Grand Hotel and Holiday Inn Express. 

Gibson noted he and aldermen plan to meet with Lubin and other Eola developers in private talks to discuss the details, but the mayor said he wants a timetable to be made public soon for completing the long-stalled project. 

“It is our hope that … we will soon be seeing a timeline formed and public talking points that can then be shared with the public,” he said Tuesday while meeting with the Natchez Board of Aldermen. “I expressed to Mr. Lubin that it is our desire to get more information out into the public very soon.”

The Eola hotel on Main and Pearl streets was constructed in 1927 as Natchez’ tallest commercial building. The hotel closed in 2014 and has since severely deteriorated as its renovation has been held up while developers seek funds and plan its designs. 

The costs have been estimated to be about $32 million – up from the $24 million originally projected in 2021 for the Eola’s renovation.

Gibson noted city officials have opted not to crack down on the Eola’s owner for having blighted property that could be deemed a public nuisance.  While the Eola’s redevelopment is a private initiative, “the city is very much involved here,” he said.

As the city has done for other commercial developments, aldermen could back a tax-increment financing (TIF) measure for refurbishing the Eola. This would involve borrowing money through a bond issue. The local property and sales tax revenues generated by the Eola’s reopening would be used to repay the loan. Such public-financing tools don’t add to the city’s debt.

Aldermen have also endorsed a sales tax-rebate incentive for the Eola hotel’s restoration through a state program for encouraging tourism development.

There are plans to tear down the city-owned Fry building adjacent to the Eola and configure the site for parking.

Eola developers and Gibson unveiled grand plans in 2021 for restoring the vacant building as a hotel. The Eola’s developers have involved Lubin, New Orleans restaurateur Dickie Brennan and the MMI Hotel Group, a Mississippi-based company whose portfolio includes hotels in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Natchez native Marjorie Feltus Hawkins and her Nashville-based design firm are also involved in the Eola’s restoration.

“Deconstruction is underway, and FH Design will be bringing new life to this old beauty,” she wrote in a recent Facebook post.