NATCHEZ — A local developer has purchased the former Natchez Community Hospital after the building stood vacant for two years.

The building has been purchased by K&J Ventures, Merit Health Natchez officials said last week. Merit Health’s parent company owns the former Natchez Community Hospital property.

“We are very pleased that a local business now has ownership of the campus,” Merit Health Natchez CEO Eric Robinson said in a statement. “They will maintain the medical office buildings and transform the larger property, giving it new life in a way that benefits our community.”

The exact plans for the site, however, remain unknown, hospital officials said in the statement.

Merit Health previously reported that the hospital was spending approximately $90,000 a month to maintain the unused building, which was built in 1973.

Natchez Community Hospital was closed in 2015 after its parent company bought Natchez Regional Medical Center the year prior. The two entities later merged into a single, new hospital at the former NRMC campus.

In August, Robinson said the building would be demolished unless someone purchased it.

Whether the building will still be demolished or used for another purpose remains unclear.

Local housing developer Jody Foster of K&J Ventures could not be reached for comment. Foster owns River Homes that has developed a new subdivision and a number of houses in the Duncan Park area of Natchez.