The City of Natchez is hopeful that the charm train will arrive after the third time the city seek bids to renovate the former train depot building on the bluff.
The poor building could use a break.
Like a beauty queen photographed with her hair in rollers and no makeup, the beautiful building stands as a bit of a visual shock on an otherwise beautiful spot of public land.
The first time the city sought bids, none were received.
The second time, the bids were too high.
In an effort to get the project started, the city now aims to break up the work into a project that contains a base bid and then options that can be added onto that base bid.
We hope and pray their plan works well. The building is basically slowly rotting away. It was left open to the elements for months and months. Finally the city went through and boarded up the open doors and windows, which may help slow the building’s demise.
The city remains a bit coy on what it plans for the building once it’s renovated.
As a historic building perched atop one of America’s best views of the continent’s mightiest river, we hope the ultimate use is befitting the location’s prominence.
But most important, we hope the city uses care in selecting the winning bidder so the city doesn’t wind up in the same legal boat it finds itself in after the recent squabble over the renovations of the colonnades.