NATCHEZ —Natchez aldermen voted Tuesday to craft a request for proposals for the long-idle Broadway Street train depot that many have described as ripe for the picking.

During the board’s regular meeting, Ward 6 Alderman and public properties committee chairman Dan Dillard moved to have City Attorney Bob Latham begin the RFP process on the Depot, which had an exterior renovation in 2016 but has sat unused ever since.

The property has been called “long-hanging fruit” by planners involved in the city’s upcoming master plan commissioned by FOR Natchez. One proposition that stemmed from early stages of the planning process included turning the depot into some type of restaurant.

Following the meeting, Latham said the city still owed a sum of money to Warren Reuther, whose company began funding the depot’s interior renovations back when a subsidiary of his company New Orleans Hotel Consultants briefly leased the depot from the city.

The city canceled the lease in October 2016 and agreed to pay Reuther approximately $80,000. The exterior of the building was renovated through a state grant.

Latham said Reuther has been threatening litigation to recover the money, though Latham said nothing of that regard would prevent the RFP process from going forward.