NATCHEZ — Empty buildings and vacant storefronts can, with the right mindset, be an opportunity, local officials said.

With roughly 25 empty spaces, large and small, in Natchez alone, the Miss-Lou has room to grow without new construction.

The Natchez-Adams Economic Development Authority works with industries that want to obtain a building, but the EDA has no organized way to address smaller locations, Director Jeff Rowell said. That’s up to the realtors, he said.

“If (buildings) were full, it obviously adds to the tax base,” EDA Chairman Woody Allen said. “That, in turn, boosts activity, which will again increase sales tax. It gives the city more revenue to work with.”

Allen said he saw an improvement in recent years.

“Just looking around, you definitely see fewer empty downtown buildings, for example,” Allen said. “People are trying to put the buildings back in better conditions.”

Outside downtown, empty spaces in the strip malls beg for occupation, he said.

And even with some empty spaces, the city’s overall attitude has changed recently, he said.

“It’s a mindset,” Allen said. “At the time we were losing industries, anything was seen as a negative. Available buildings were a sign of just the way things were.

“I think now, people are looking at it more as an opportunity.”

Filling up fast

Most of the commercial spaces around Natchez are being bought up fairly quickly, realtor Sue Stedman said.

“A lot of the buildings have been purchased in the past 12 months,” Stedman said. “Look at (Vaughn’s Café) on Main Street. Look at Doug Hosford’s place (High Cotton). That building stood vacant forever. You just look around, and they’re all over the place.”

Some of the commercial spaces are being turned into offices or residences, Stedman said.

The vacant spaces are filling up fast, she said.

“If you’ll look around, there’s just not a whole lot left,” Stedman said. “Even the ones on the market are occupied. They’ve got something going on.”

While there’s no organized effort to fill vacant buildings, Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Hudson, who started in July, said she wants to tackle the topic. Hudson lived in Natchez 30 years, moved away for a few years and recently came back to serve as chamber director.

Natchez does not draw all types of businesses, but it certainly has its advantages, Hudson said.

“If (potential buyers) want a big city, we’re not,” Hudson said. “But if they want a small community and compare us to a small community, I think we have a great chance. A little of it, too, is what their product is — is it something that could be here?”

Hudson said the number of vacant buildings had shrunk since she left.

“I left (Natchez) right after IP closed,” she said. “It made a big impact. Everybody was trying to do what he or she could to stay.

“Now, I can look around and see new hotels and other businesses coming in. It’s exciting.”

Helping fill downtown space is on the long-term agenda for the Natchez Downtown Development Association, President Bill Furlow said. NDDA is dedicated to the economic development of the downtown area.

“The kinds of things we can do would include surveys of downtown to identify exactly what kind of businesses we have and what we need,” Furlow said.

New neighbors

One of the challenges a business might face when locating downtown is that of the infrastructure, Furlow said.

“Some of the vacant buildings are just not suitable for occupation,” Furlow said. “Physically, they have too many problems that need to be addressed, requiring significant work.”

One of those businesses that took on renovation work was Turning Pages. Before the bookstore moved from their Washington Street location, they had to do some real work on the Franklin Street space, owner Mary Emrick said.

“The building on Franklin Street had been vacant for a long time,” Emrick said. “Franklin Street is certainly making a comeback as far as renovations and opening of businesses. So, we thought this would be a good place for us to be.”

With a lot of hard work from contractors and the architect, the building was renovated within five months.

Emrick said she hoped even more businesses would fill in the empty spaces. More filled storefronts create a destination and brings more shoppers, she said.

Filling downtown storefronts will help the whole town, Furlow said.

“More shops and the more restaurants we have downtown would make Natchez that much more appealing,” Furlow said.

Already, things have improved, he said.

“We have several more restaurants downtown than we did two years ago,” he said.

In fact, over the past few years, things have really picked up, longtime shop owner Darby Short said.

“There’s a tremendous difference in vacant buildings from 10 years ago,” Short said. “In the last 10 years, you’ve kind of seen a slow rebirth of these buildings being filled up, especially post-Katrina.”

When it comes to businesses, the more the merrier, she said.

“We welcome any type of business, even if it’s a direct competitor of ours,” Short said. “The more shops in a cluster, the better. It’s just going to draw more people.”

Beyond the grid

Outside the downtown area, things are moving a little more slowly. Larger spaces, such as the strip malls, Magnolia Mall, on D’Evereux Drive, and Tracetown Shopping Center, on John R. Junkin Drive, have been vacant for some time now.

For Tracetown, it’s a matter of accessibility, manager Ted Autterson said. Getting in and out of the shopping center is difficult and slow. Additionally, the shopping center is set back from the road a bit.

It’s hard to attract businesses to rent out a space when customers can’t easily see or access the area, he said.

But the situation will soon change, Autterson said. The Mississippi Department of Transportation has plans to create a continuous-flow intersection in front of the shopping center. When they do that, Tracetown will get a new, easier entrance.

“That will be the key to our future in Natchez,” Autterson said.

The shopping center already has prospective tenants looking at the area, he said.

Marketing vacant spaces is not always easy, Natchez developer Glenn Green said. Green is also developing retail space on U.S. 61 North and manages the strip mall on Carter Street in Vidalia.

“When you have new property, everything about it is new,” Green said. “The roof’s new, the wiring’s new, everything’s pretty much more presentable.

“If you’re in a strip center and your neighbor is not keeping his appearance up, it may reflect negatively on the appearance of your store.”

But there are positive aspects to leasing older retail space, Green said. The rent is lower, sometimes a third of what new space might cost.

Green said he doesn’t expect the vacant spaces, even outside downtown Natchez, to stay vacant much longer.

“Things are growing and demand is increasing to the point where something positive is going to happen to that space,” he said.

This is evident in Vidalia, where spaces in existing buildings are already limited.

Mayor Hyram Copeland said the only two major vacant commercial spaces that come to mind are the old Vidalia Supermarket on Carter Street and one vacant slot in the new strip mall.

“It’s good news and bad news,” he said. “It’s filling up fast, but it’s developing at a faster rate than perhaps was anticipated.”

Because most of the existing buildings in Vidalia are filled, Copeland said developers would likely have to look to building.

And the price of commercial property is going up, he said.

“I know one piece of property sold last year for $10,000 an acre that is now being sold for $17,000 an acre,” he said.

In Ferriday, some of the vacant buildings include the old location of Jeffrey’s Flower Shop location, an old grocery store on E.E. Wallace Boulevard and the old Wal-Mart building.

Having someone locate in one of those old buildings may encourage others to come into the area, Ferriday Chamber of Commerce President Liz Brooking said.

“Of course, it’s always good when one of those old buildings are filled,” she said.

Buildings for the future

And while there’s no organized effort to fill vacant buildings, realtor Stedman said she doesn’t expect the situation in the area to change in the coming months.

Interested businesses will continue to fill vacant buildings a well as locate in new ones, she said.

If anything, with new hotels and the federal courthouse opening soon, she expects the market to pick up.

“It’s just a real opportune time for someone to acquire a building,” she said. “I don’t see values doing anything but increasing.”