Natchez Downtown Market Analysis & Strategic Planning

Nachez, MS

Randall Gross / Development Economics completed work on retail and housing market analyses as part of a Downtown Plan for Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is the quintessential “riverboat town” along the Mississippi River, with all of the inherent challenges (e.g., flooding) and opportunities (tourism) associated with a location on America’s River Road. Natchez is an historic, 300-year-old community that offers exceptional assets for visitors including antebellum plantation homes, African American heritage, and an architecturally rich downtown area. Still, the community suffers from a lack of investment, long-term decline in its demographic base, and poor transportation accessibility (no interstate highway, no airport service). Overcoming these obstacles has been a primary motivation for the downtown plan, and the market analysis focused on the development of key “drivers” such as new tourism products and recruitment of “location-independent businesses” (LIBs) to leverage the market for housing and retail. RGDE recommended various marketing, development, business recruitment, downtown management, and financing strategies as part of this effort. RGDE completed this work as part of a planning team led by The Walker Collaborative.

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