Developers To Revive 1927 Mississippi Hotel

Developers say they plan to revive and reopen a Mississippi hotel that was built in 1927 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Groundbreaking for the renovation of the Eola Hotel in downtown Natchez is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022, the Natchez Democrat reported.

The project is labeled Project Phoenix, symbolic of the once-popular luxury hotel “rising from the ashes,” Mayor Dan Gibson said during a news conference Thursday.

Endeavour Corp. is the development group behind the project. Virginia Attorney Robert Lubin bought the Eola in 2014 and retains partial ownership.

Hayes Dent is president of Public Strategies and an affiliate of Endeavour.

Dent said he and Endeavour owner Randy Roth have been working with a major hotel chain to make the project possible, but did not name the chain.

The group has also partnered with Kevin Preston of the Magnolia Bluffs Casino & Hotel.

Dickie Brennan, the owner of Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse in New Orleans, will be in charge of food and beverage operations at the new Eola.

The Eola was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The hotel reached its height of popularity the early 1930s, when Natchez started pilgrimage tours of antebellum homes.

It ceased operating as a hotel in 2014.