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By Angela Cutrer

Special to The Democrat 

The former Natchez Community Hospital has been purchased by JR Real Properties, headed by Louisiana residents Richard LaNasa and Johnny Bordes. 

The pair bought the property from K&J Ventures, which purchased the property in January 2018 from Merit Health Natchez. The sale was closed on May 20, according to real estate agents Janice Easom and Tabitha Wroten,

The owners plan to encourage the location of medical-related businesses as a way to invest in Natchez.

“We have several ideas about what we want to do with the property,” said LaNasa, who lives in Mandeville, Louisiana. “It will be medically related, such as assisted living or rehabilitation — or something like that. We are still working on the details.”

LaNasa said his wife, Kim, and Bordes’ wife, Shannon, would be “running point” on managing the buildings. The hospital was vacant, but the physician offices are about 70 percent occupied.

The medical usage dovetails with Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson’s vision for a medical district in the city. “We are very excited about the sale of the old hospital,” Gibson said. “The new owners have a great vision for something the county has wanted for a long time. Their ideas work well with the Natchez renewal project and medical hub plan for economic development.”

Gibson said the buildings have been empty for at least five years and are ripe for development. 

“The former hospital and buildings have sat there for several years, sitting there and vacant,” he said. “Ever since I’ve taken office, we’ve been reaching out and looking at buyers interested in development. These two gentlemen have already invested in Natchez and I’m excited they plan to do even more.”

 LaNasa said his company also purchased the Kimbrell building on Main Street, a 16,000 square foot building, but he has no plans on what to do with it yet.

“We want to invest in Natchez,” he said. “We think its growth is something to invest in.”

The Kimbrell building was built in 1870 and is in the heart of downtown Natchez. The former Community Hospital facility, located on Jefferson Davis Boulevard, was built in 1973.

LaNasa added that he and his partner do not plan to run any businesses in the properties they’ve purchased. They are merely investing in the buildings themselves with the hope that businesses will be interested in locating there.

Kevin Wilson, a partner in K&J Ventures with Jody Foster, said he was pleased with the sale. 

“I think they will do really good things in Natchez,” Wilson said. “They have several things they can do with the properties — build something else or fix them up and rent them. They seemed like really nice guys.”