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NATCHEZ — Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and the Board of Aldermen have set an official groundbreaking ceremony for Tuesday at 2 p.m. to welcome a new Hobby Lobby store, which will be built in the Tracetown Shopping Center.

Gibson said the public is invited to “join us for this joyous occasion for the City of Natchez. ”

Tracetown owner Jimmy Smith had been reticent about discussing the development in late March. He posted on social media that “nothing had been signed.”

The city’s planning commission approved the subdivision of the property to allow for the Hobby Lobby store, and the city’s planning department approved the site plan.

“These are truly exciting times for Natchez. We’ve been waiting for this to happen since before our administration began in 2020,” Gibson said. “After countless meetings, even touring developers from other parts of the state and country around in my car as mayor, I’m so grateful that a local resident stepped up to make the difference. While others were reluctant to make the investment and clearly could not see the potential we have here, Jimmy Smith never wavered. Thanks to him, Tracetown is coming back better than ever.”

Gibson said the redevelopment of Tracetown is more than one store.

“This is a $30 million renovation of an entire commercial development,” Gibson said. “It will be the largest of its kind in our region of the state in four decades.”

Plans for the Hobby Lobby store call for it to be built behind Regions Bank, facing Red Top Seafood. To accommodate Hobby Lobby, part of the original Tracetown Shopping Center, down to where the U.S. Postal Service branch is located, will be demolished.

At its last meeting, Smith told the Natchez Board of Aldermen that the Hobby Lobby store was phase one of the development. “There will be a phase 2,” he said.