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NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — The new owner of the historic Natchez Eola Hotel plans to transform it into a 60- to 65unit senior living complex.
Robert Lubin, an attorney who purchased the Eola in January, told The Natchez Democrat (http://bit.ly/1zWhh1W) that a team is checking the building to ensure the proposed layout changes will work. He said renovations should begin in the spring or early summer.
"We are going to go ahead and make it an upscale independent senior living building where people who are 55 and older can get a beautiful apartment in Natchez. We are going to keep the restaurant open — all the kinds of things people would expect from a hotel will still be there," Lubin said.
The Eola has operated as a hotel under the same name since opening in 1927. It was named for the developer's daughter.
A tornado in 1998 tore off the roof and most of the top floor of the seven-story building.
Former owner Bob Dean of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, restored the 131-room hotel after purchasing it in 1998.
Lubin owned the hotel in the 1990s before selling it to Bob Dean.
Lubin said the Eola cannot continue to function as a hotel because the rooms — and especially the bathrooms — are too small to profitably market as a luxury hotel.
"I've owned it as a hotel before, and I didn't make any money operating it as a hotel, neither did the previous owner," he said. "It has 125 rooms now, and you can't keep it as a hotel if no one is staying there and you are losing money."
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Information from: The Natchez Democrat, http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/
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