NATCHEZ — A local bank will break ground on a Natchez expansion this week.

Louisiana-based Delta Bank opened a small branch at 507 John R. Junkin Drive last year, but will break ground on a much larger full-service branch on U.S. 61 South at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

The new branch, located on the lot formerly occupied by Berry’s Seafood, will be nearly twice the size of the John R. Junkin branch at 3,300 square feet, Delta Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Haworth said.

“We had already had a customer base from the Natchez-Adams County area, and we have for some time discussed expansion over there, so we felt that the time was finally right for us to put a bricks and mortar facility over there,” Haworth said.

“The expansion we are making now is into a full-service facility that will include drive-through services, ATM and night deposit as well as traditional lobby services for new accounts, tellers and all types of commercial and consumer loans.”

In addition to the new building, the bank will add its own parking lot with more than 20 spaces for staff and customers, he said.

The expansion of Delta’s physical presence will also include an expansion of its employee base, Haworth said.

The new building will be built by Wilmar Construction, and has an expected construction period of approximately eight months.

Haworth said the bank will put up a rendering of how the new location will look at the site after the groundbreaking.