Natchez &8212; Natchez officials are confident they will have an option for a convention center hotel just after the first of the year.

&8220;This is a can-do,&8221; said Alderman Bob Pollard, who is also chairman of the aldermen&8217;s tourism committee. &8220;This isn&8217;t something to wait and wish for.&8221;

Monday, aldermen accepted three proposals for hotels for the site just west of the Natchez Convention Center.

&8220;All three are acceptable,&8221; Pollard said. &8220;The top two, I would take either one. Both are fantastic.&8221;

Both Pollard and City Attorney Walter Brown said this is the closest the city has come to a convention center hotel deal. Pollard said the situation on the gulf coast since Katrina hit &8212; and the number of conventions Natchez has attracted because of it &8212; have likely interested more hotel developers. &8220;We&8217;re turning Natchez around,&8221; he said.

The city decided to solicit multiple proposals because this is the first time more than one person has been seriously interested, Brown said. The process was similar to a one that solicited ideas for the old pecan factory site. &8220;We hope to move on this by the first of the year. We feel like whomever we select this time is going to build a hotel,&8221; Brown said.

The next step for aldermen is to discuss the proposals at two upcoming meetings &8212; a work session Dec. 6 and a regular meeting Dec. 13. Aldermen may choose to meet with developers individually in early January, and Brown said he hopes the city will have an option with one of the developers by the end of January or early February.

Pollard said he expects to see a hotel on the site in a year and a half, if all goes well.

The three proposals include:

4Bauer and Co. of New Orleans, headed by real estate developer Thomas J. Bauer. Bauer said Monday his hotel would have 120 rooms, with the potential of adding 80 rooms in the future. And Bauer said he is also interested in the former First Baptist Church building on Main Street as a possible site for apartments.

4Great River Development CO. LLC of Atlanta, whose principal is Natchez native Glen William Simmons. Simmons had entered an option agreement with the city on hotel discussions earlier this year, but that option expired this month.

Simmons said his hotel, likely a Hilton Garden Inn, would have 90 to 120 rooms. Simmons said Monday he is also interested in other development on the bluff.

4Akshar LLC, whose principal is a doctor from El Dorado, Ark. No information was available on his plan.