Phase 2 of convention center renovation contract awarded

NATCHEZ — Hope Enterprises, a Natchez-based company, was awarded a contract for $965,500 for Phase 2 of three phases of the Natchez Convention Center renovation project.

Hope Enterprises was the low bidder of the three bids submitted for the project. It is owned and operated by Blase and Brent Gaude of Natchez.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said, once complete, the Natchez Convention Center would be a facility many will envy.

“It will be a dramatic change,” he said.

The renovation work will take “the better part of a year to complete,” Gibson said.

Phase 1 of the work began this month. The contractor for Phase 1 is Smith Painting, who was the lone bidder. Phase 1 includes renovating the convention center’s first floor exhibit hall, including installing new wall coverings, carpet, paint and repairing wall partitions for the bid price of $699,317. It was hoped the work on Phase 1 would begin in December 2023. However, because the convention center was booked, the work waited so those reservations could be accommodated.

“We had hoped to start last January, but it was so busy at the convention center, we had to wait until August,” he said.

“The difference will be so amazing. Anyone who has had a convention there before and returns after this renovation will be blown away and Natchez as a convention destination will be the most-talked about city in the state,” Gibson said.

Design consultant on the project is Marjorie Feltus Hawkins of the Nashville design firm Feltus Hawkins Designs. Hawkins is a Natchez native and owns Linden.

“We wanted her to do this because we wanted the convention center to have a Natchez look,” he said. “Phase 2 will bring a new look to the hallways, bathrooms and the entrance lobby. It will make you feel like you are walking into a historic property. It will have fine millwork and beautiful, cased arches down the hall. You should see the light fixtures. The doors will be trimmed to where they have a paneled look. It will give a feel like going to the Greenbrier.”

The renovation is expected to cost in total about $3 million.

“The budget of $3 million is allowing us to do the entire downstairs and some of the upstairs, but possibly not everything we would like to do,” Gibson said.

The third and final stage of the renovation will install new audio visual equipment and new sound equipment and technology. That work is expected to cost about $1 million.

Money for the renovation came from a public properties improvement bond taken by the city in 2021.

“That bond was to allow us to renovate the convention center, the civic center and the city auditorium — all with no increase in taxes,” he said.

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