Eola developer: ‘It is going to happen’

NATCHEZ — Hayes Dent, one of the developers of the Eola Hotel project, told those at a press conference held by Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson on Monday afternoon, “This project is absolutely going to get done. We are absolutely committed to getting this project done. It is going to happen. I cannot tell you when the grand opening is going to be, but I can tell you there is going to be one.”

Gibson held a multi-faceted public meeting Monday at the Natchez Grand to discuss plans for sprucing up the city in September before a plethora of events planned downtown during October, as well as provide updates on the Eola Hotel project and the recently awarded $25 million RAISE grant awarded the city by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Dent walked those at the meeting through the history of the current project and how it is being funded.

He said four years ago, shortly after Gibson was elected, he and Gibson walked around downtown and Gibson shared his vision for downtown Natchez.

“So many of the things we talked about four years ago are taking place now in Natchez,” Dent said. He and Gibson have known each other for years and were roommates early in their careers when both worked in Washington, D.C.

“As we made our way downtown, we ended up back at Pearl and Main and we were staring at the behemoth that is the biggest thing in downtown Natchez,” Dent said. “You’ve got to do something about the Eola. You can’t leave it dark every night. It’s either got to be restored or, God forbid, it’s got to be torn down. It can’t sit in the middle of this beautiful, gorgeous downtown and just sit empty. That will not work.”

He said that the tour of downtown sparked the current Eola project, which is now three years in the making.
Dent said projects that use public capital are “tantamount to impossible to get done.” The Eola project is dependent on that public capital, which is in the form of historic tax credits, new market tax credits, and EB5 foreign investment funds.

He likened the project to the restoration of the King Edward Hotel in Jackson, which took 16 years to develop.

At its inception, the Eola project was estimated to cost $23 million to complete. However, due to increased construction costs and inflation, the restoration is now expected to cost $31 million.

“We rolled out immediately. We said, ‘We’ve got this. We can make this work,’ ” Dent said. “That’s what went into our 2021 announcement. We jumped the gun. That’s a mistake I own. I probably got Dan excited more than I should have and other people in the city more excited than I should have. We kind of hit the wall…Everybody in Natchez wants to see construction booms and trailers and trucks and things around the property. In a project like this, you have to put all of the money together first, then begin the project.”

Dent said the pre-development process is nearing completion, and $1.1 million has been spent thus far. Natchez native Marjorie Feltus Hawkins is working with the owners on the hotel’s design, which will have 96 guest rooms. Dale Partners Architects is designing the hotel, and Cain Flannery is the construction manager.

“We expect to close in March 2025 and at that point, that’s when construction will begin, which takes about 14 months,” Dent said.

“This project and projects like it are tantamount to impossible to get done. They are just that hard,” he said. “This project is absolutely going to get done. We are absolutely committed to get this project done. It is going to happen. I cannot tell you when the grand opening will be, but I can tell you there is going to be one.”

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