NATCHEZ &045; A group negotiating an option to build a hotel across Canal Street from the convention center will probably present a more detailed proposal to aldermen within a month, City Attorney Walter Brown said.

&uot;Hopefully at the next (aldermen meeting on Aug. 23), but I’d say definitely the meeting two weeks after that,&uot; Brown said Monday.

Aldermen on Friday entered into an exclusive agreement with Great River Development Co. of Marietta, Ga., to negotiate an option for the hotel.

As it now stands, the convention-grade hotel would have 100 to 120 rooms and would be classified as a Hilton Garden hotel, Brown said.

But he said it’s too early in talks to release more details about Great River, its plans for the Natchez property or the names of its principals, one of which is a Natchez native.

Tourism officials have said a hotel adjacent to the city’s $10 million convention center would help attract more events to the facility, which was built in 2002.

Tourism director Walter Tipton has said 12 groups, including the Mississippi Association of Supervisors and the Mississippi Tourism Association, have said they’ll seriously consider Natchez as a convention location only if the city has a convention center hotel to ensure enough rooms.