NATCHEZ — The owner of the former Natchez Eola Hotel announced Tuesday his intention to reform the building into a senior-living facility, but quickly changed that plan after receiving blowback from the city.

Developer Robert Lubin, who purchased the Eola in 2014, said he believed the city wanted him to proceed with the senior-living facility because it could be accomplished relatively quickly.

Lubin has gone back and forth on his plans for the Eola over the past year. He last spoke in front of the board of aldermen in April, when he announced his desire to bring back the Eola as a hotel, citing emphatic feedback from the city supporting that idea. Before then, he had planned to go the senior-living route.

Tuesday, Lubin commented on the “frustrating” nature of the reopening process, which has been long in the making.

“I have been going down the path of the hotel as well as the path of senior living,” Lubin said. “We’ve been trying to get the hotel path done, but it was slower. The faster path was senior-living.”

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said he does not support the idea of making the Eola into any sort of apartment complex.

“I am strongly against that,” Grennell said. “I think that the Eola is a really nice hotel. It’s a historic hotel, and that’s what it should be.”

Noting the city’s population decline, Grennell said empty houses are already available “around every corner.”

“Evidently, there’s not a major demand for a senior-living facility,” Grennell said.

But after learning about what appears to be a case of trespassing with the Eola, Grennell’s desire to fill the vacant building is as fervent as ever.

“Just recently it’s been brought to my attention that people have been going in there — young people,” Grennell said. “They’ve been partying. They’ve turned the electricity on.

Grennell said Andrew’s Tavern owner Sammy Atkins alerted the city after seeing children on the Eola’s balconies.

Atkins said these problems are no rare occurrence.

“I’ve seen that and it hasn’t stopped since (the Eola closed) — probably over the past two years at least,” Atkins said. “I’ve seen people in there in the very top (of the building) hanging out in there with the lights on.

“Kids are in there partying. They’re throwing stuff into my courtyard: chairs, glasses.”

Grennell said last Tuesday while on his way home from work he had noticed one of the Eola’s door was left “wide open.”

Afterward, Grennell said he sent City Building Inspector Jody Rutter last week to look at the building and that the place had sustained damaged.

“(Rutter) went down and found that the place was just being invaded,” Grennell said.

Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong said while his department had not received any reports of such activity last week, his officers inspected the building Sept. 11 and found evidence of trespassing.

Armstrong said an officer had noticed the Eola’s door was not secured, prompting the officer to check the building.

Armstrong also said previous reports of damage in the Eola have been made, though police have no way to ascertain exactly when any of the damage took place.

“It’s hard to determine when any of (the damage) was caused,” Armstrong said. “What we do know is somebody has apparently been in there.”

While Armstrong said he could not confirm anything other than a relatively recent case of trespassing, he said the chance of people entering and damaging the building is not unlikely.

“Yes, that’s a great possibility. People may do any- and everything when you’ve got unsecured abandoned properties. It’s very important to secure these properties as best you can and to check on them periodically and make sure everything is still intact.”

In light of this information, Lubin said he felt heavy pressure to move on the building as quickly as possible.

“After the discovery was made that people were trespassing, the message was ‘Robert, you’ve got to get something going right now,’” Lubin said. “I can’t build the hotel right now, but I can build the hotel in a pretty short time.”

Lubin said renovating the building as a hotel would mean more steps and a more complex financing procedure as opposed to the senior-living complex.

“If we do the hotel … it just (is) going to take a little longer to go through everything and secure our debt,” Lubin said.

A public notice in Tuesday’s edition of The Natchez Democrat announced the building would reopen as Eola Senior Living, a facility for residents age 62 and above.

The negative feedback from the decision arose almost immediately. Grennell said calls had been coming in “all morning” opposing the prospective senior-living facility.

Lubin said the reaction made overt the city’s desire for a hotel.

“What I’m hearing today (Tuesday) loud and clear is nobody wants (Eola Senior Living),” Lubin said.

After years of stagnancy, the pressure remains on Lubin to get the building redeveloped quickly. Grennell said he no longer wants to see the “historic” Eola building left idle.

Though Lubin said he would need to reevaluate after Tuesday’s pushback, he said a final plan is near.

“We will have a solution and a proposal within exactly 30 days,” Lubin said.