NATCHEZ &045;&045; On almost every block of the historic downtown area, at least one significant project is under way.

Mimi Miller, director of preservation for the Historic Natchez Foundation, speaks animatedly of all the activity.

&uot;I think downtown is doing great,&uot; she said.

&uot;I’m excited about The Democrat moving. And the federal courthouse is going to be wonderful.&uot;

The Natchez Democrat has purchased for renovation the former A&P Grocery, northeastern corner of Franklin and Wall streets. &uot;That will help that part of town so much,&uot; Miller said.

The federal courthouse will occupy the building constructed in the 1850s as Institute Hall, more recently known as Memorial Hall. Work is in progress there, mid block on South Pearl Street between Main and State.

&uot;The Guest House has a new owner, and someone has bought the old City Bank building to make a bed and breakfast there,&uot; Miller said.

The Guest House, newly named The Historic Natchez Inn, was purchased last week by a North Carolina real estate attorney.

The City Bank building on Franklin Street, which upstairs was formerly offices for a Natchez law firm and downstairs for a while was a restaurant, sold to a Kansas City, Mo., man who wants to convert the building into a 30-room inn, Miller said.

&uot;And I think it will be good to have it right there near the Guest House,&uot; she said. &uot;I don’t see those places as competitive. I think they can work together and really do well.&uot;

Other activity downtown includes purchase of a building in the 300 block of Main Street; Donald Killelea’s purchase of a building on the west side of the 100 block of Commerce Street; the sale of two important downtown antebellum houses, Ravenna and Oak Hill; continued restoration by Andy Sartin and Jennifer Cole of the large building on the northeastern corner of Franklin and Commerce.

&uot;The Fare is going to reopen as the City Caf/,&uot; she said.

&uot;And Guy and David are going to have a successful restaurant on Commerce Street,&uot; Miller said.

She was referring to Guy Bass and David Browning, whose project is connected with the Jim Love building under restoration on North Commerce.

Two new shops under one roof have located at 609-A Franklin St., where Classic Accents, owned by Vickie M. Cruise, and Dunbar & Company, owned by Sarah and Gill Smith, opened recently.

Work continues at the William Johnson House on State Street, where the National Park Service looks toward an opening of the historic building to showcase the remarkable life of Johnson, a free black in antebellum Natchez who kept a diary on life in Natchez in pre-Civil War days.

The House on Ellicott Hill, 211 N. Canal St., owned by the Natchez Garden Club, also is poised to get substantial restoration in an upcoming project.

At the Historic Natchez Foundation headquarters, 108 S. Commerce St., the Natchez Institute building is under restoration to create archival-quality space for record storage; as part of the project, an elevator has been installed to serve all three floors of the building.