NATCHEZ, Miss. – The mayor and aldermen will be negotiating with a group led by movie director Tate Taylor to complete the restoration of Natchez’ old railroad depot on Broadway Street and turn it into a restaurant.
The group’s plans call for converting the 109-year-old building into “a world-class bar and café” alongside an outdoor live-music venue overlooking the Mississippi River. It also envisions using it as a party place for actors, production crews and others involved with Taylor’s nearby movie studio.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen on Tuesday selected the partnership – known as Church Hill Variety – that includes Taylor and renowned chef Nick Wallace. Their plans for the city-owned depot bested a proposition offered by hotelier Warren Reuther’s company.
Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said he and aldermen will meet in January to finalize details of a lease with Church Hill Variety that’s to include its financial terms and abilities for bringing the old train depot back to life. City leaders’ plans call for the developers to take advantage of the site’s “spectacular river and sunset views” and make it “a prime destination for locals and tourists from sun up to sun down, especially on weekends.”
According to Church Hill Variety’s proposal submitted to city officials last month, the eatery will serve breakfast in the morning and remain open into the night to focus on serving “classic cocktails, small plates and capturing the majesty and romance of the river views.”
Also noted in the plans is the Broadway Street depot’s close walking distance to Crooked Letter Studio, the former beer distributorship on High Street that Taylor is using for making movies.
Taylor this past summer in Natchez directed the filming of “Breaking News in Yuba County.” His earlier movies include “The Help.” Taylor – who lives in the Church Hill community near Natchez – is joined by chef Wallace, movie producers John Norris and Thor Juell in the train depot’s development.
Taylor, Norris and Juell are also involved with another newly formed group – Film Natchez – working to get more movies produced here.
While the old depot’s exterior was renovated in 2016 by the city, it has remained a vacant unfinished shell as the Board of Aldermen held up plans for completing the interior’s restoration. About $900,000 was spent in city and federal funds to restore the exterior.
The board in 2016 leased the building to Natchez Grand Hotel and Monmouth owner Reuther. He began restoring the building’s interior, but the contract was nullified by aldermen amid protests that city officials didn’t seek proposals from others.
After the bidding process opened earlier this year for more offers, Reuther’s company – New Orleans Hotel Consultants – and Church Hill Variety were the only two submitting proposals by the Nov. 1 deadline.
The former railroad depot was vacated in 2013 when a restaurant and souvenir shop were evicted so the building could be renovated.
The train depot was built around 1910 by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad and later owned by Illinois Central Railroad. Passenger-rail service to Natchez terminated in the 1940s when World War II ended. The building became a restaurant in the mid-1970s.