Natchez &8212; A dream more than five years in the making is taking shape next door to Natchez Regional Medical Center, where a multi-story doctors building is nearing completion and is one of the big stories of 2005.

With ground breaking in April 2005, the building should be ready for occupancy in June 2006, said Dr. Kenneth Stubbs, one of the six physician investors in the building.

&8220;The building is coming along just great,&8221; Stubbs, an internal medicine specialist, said Thursday. &8220;We anticipate we will move into the building right on schedule in June.&8221;

The idea for a new building to replace the 40-year-old Medical Arts Building adjacent to the medical center first arose in 2000, Walter Brown, attorney to the Natchez Regional board of trustees, said in April at the time of the groundbreaking.

&8220;About three years ago, a group led by Dr. Kenneth Stubbs took the lead. It&8217;s one of the biggest investments in health care since the renovation of the hospital that began back in 1990.&8221;

Located behind the Medical Arts Building, which was built in 1960, the new building will house physician offices, some imaging facilities, a physical therapy clinic, a home health company and a durable medical equipment company, Stubbs said.

The building, expected to cost between $5 million and $6 million, will feature a covered walkway to connect it to the hospital.

&8220;We&8217;ve been wanting to do this for many years,&8221; Dr. Frank Guedon, an obstetrician-gynecologist and also an investor in the building, said at the groundbreaking.

Doctor investors in addition to Stubbs and Guedon are internists Dr. Edward Daly and Dr. Blane Mire and orthopedists Dr. Robert Haimson and Dr. Carl Passman.

Marcia Passman, wife of Carl Passman and director of the physical therapy clinic associated with Passman Haimson Orthopedic Sports and Rehabilitation Clinic, said the therapy department will have a therapeutic pool with a built-in treadmill and will have triple the space the clinic has now.

Architect Richard Dean and developer Gary Cress, both of Jackson, are involved in the project.

The old Medical Arts Building will be razed in the next couple of months, Stubbs said. &8220;They will do an asbestos cleanup and then begin on the parking lot,&8221; he said.

Some space is available for rent, Stubbs said. &8220;We&8217;re sending advertisements to displaced doctors in Baton Rouge, trying to find physicians looking for a place to go,&8221; he said of those who left New Orleans or the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

Natchez continues to need doctors in certain specialties, he said. &8220;If anyone in town knows of displaced physicians looking for a place to settle, I hope they will let us know,&8221; he said.

&8220;We&8217;re also looking for home-grown medical students who might like to come home when they graduate,&8221; he said.

The new building will be a great addition to the community, Stubbs said. &8220;For the patients, it will be a nice, modern facility where patients will have more conveniences and better access to services.&8221;

Brown said at the time of the ground breaking that one of the best things about the building is the commitment shown by the doctors.

&8220;They will provide through the private sector something that &8230; will improve medical care from the consumer standpoint in that there will be so many doctors in one facility.&8221;