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NATCHEZ — At the urging of an environmental consultant, the Natchez Board of Aldermen voted to apply for up to $500,000 in loan funds to demolish the Fry Building, located at the corner of North Pearl and Franklin streets.

Trey Hess, a consultant with PPM Consultants, was hired to advise on the environmental aspects of demolishing the Fry Building and cleaning up its adjacent parking lot, which was donated to the city as part of the Eola Hotel project.

At first, the site was to be a public parking garage. However, as construction costs on the Eola project soared, the cost of the parking garage construction became prohibitive.

The city still aims for the area to provide parking for the Eola project, which Mayor Dan Gibson insists is still in the works, and for other parking needs downtown.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the city a $1.1 million grant in 2023 to clean up the Fry site.

Hess told the aldermen the state’s Department of Environmental Quality has a million dollar revolving loan fund that can be tapped for asbestos removal and demolition of the building. The city would have a 10-year payback period.

“DEQ recognizes the importance of what’s going with the hotel up there and they’re going to be pushing hard to get this done,” Hess said.