NATCHEZ — The hotel mogul who had planned to open a new hotel in downtown Natchez this month said Friday the plans fell through because of low occupancy throughout the city’s current hotels.

As recently as August, New Orleans hotelier Warren Reuther said the former Regions Bank building on Franklin Street would be transformed into a 73-room hotel and open in March. Now, Reuther said he feels the opportunity does not exist at this time to justify the investment.

“The numbers are not there,” Reuther said.

Reuther said he made his decision using data from a Tennessee-based hotel data company named STR that regularly issues a report called STAR, which provides metrics such as occupancy rate about various hotels.

Reuther said he made his decision using data from a Smith Travel Accommodations Report, a report from data company STAR that yields insight about the hotel industry.

Reuther still owns the building and, though he currently does not have alternate plans for the building, Reuther said he would reconsider creating the hotel if the market improves to his liking.

“If the numbers change and we haven’t sold the building, we might look at it again, but you’ve got to get at least 60-percent occupancy (in Natchez),” Reuther said.

The occupancy for Natchez has remained above 50 percent since 2011, Natchez Convention Promotion Commission Chairman Lance Harris said.

Looking at the data’s latest trend, however, shows a decline over the last three years.

Occupancy experienced a dip from 58.3 percent in 2015 to 51.7 percent in 2017 after hovering around the 58-59 percent mark for the previous four years, said Richie Aquilar, who manages the lodging division of Reuther’s hospitality business in New Orleans.

“In a simple version, we see a trend that is going the wrong way (in Natchez) based on reporting from Smith Travel Research,” Aquilar said.

An important note about the STAR data, Harris said, is that not all hotels make reports to the agency, and that STAR does not receive data on any bed and breakfasts. That means one cannot generalize the data to every hotel in Natchez, but only the handful of hotels that make reports.

Further, Harris said he did not know which of the local hotels report to STAR for the company’s report.

Reuther said he blamed no one for the situation, but also that he must see an increase in demand before he would consider proceeding with the hotel. He also said he would be open to selling the building to anyone interested in assuming ownership.

Local architect Johnny Waycaster had been in talks with Reuther to build the hotel, which was to have 65 regular rooms, eight suites, a fitness facility and a business center among other amenities.

“It would have been a beautiful hotel,” Reuther said.