NATCHEZ — Although principals in the new Vidalia Denim cotton mill announced earlier this month were involved in a similar, failed venture in Bunkie, Louisiana, local economic leaders and Vidalia Denim’s CEO say the Vidalia project is different and that the town has nothing at risk.

Vidalia Denim CEO Dan Feibus was involved in a project in which the Town of Bunkie courted his company to bring a spinning operation to a 600,000 square-foot textile plant in an industrial park the town had created with a $10 million grant. The textile plant would have been partly occupied by Gulf Coast Spinning, a subsidiary of Zagis USA and former business interest of Feibus, which would bring 300 jobs.

Similarly, Vidalia Denim plans to operate a textile denim manufacturing plant in the 900,000 square-foot former Fruit of the Loom facility it purchased from the Town of Vidalia for $12 million with the promise of bringing 300 much-needed jobs to the area.

Miss-Lou economic development officials worked on the project, code-named Project Blue, for approximately a year and a half, until an official announcement was made upon closing on the purchase of the former Fruit of the Loom Building on July 19.

Feibus said the Bunkie project was the result of a partnership he had with Cleco Power, an ice and electric company based in Pineville, Louisiana, that eventually derailed.

“I was particularly comfortable with where we were,” Feibus said. “We had a pretty good relationship with (Cleco) … but they kept sort of peeling their commitment to the project. … We’re now creating a completely different product with Vidalia — a different company and different customers.”

Meanwhile, the Bunkie industrial park remains empty as litigation between Gulf Coast Spinning and Cleco drags on, leaving the Town of Bunkie at a significant financial loss.

Miss-Lou economic officials say they were well aware of the Gulf Coast Spinning project going into Project Blue.

“The plant in Bunkie was under litigation, and it probably still is,” Vidalia Mayor Buzz Craft said. “We did do our due diligence on (the Bunkie project) and it was on our radar, but this project has its own merit. … It has been approved by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) the SBA (Small Business Administration) and has been funded by several lenders. … It’s already paid for,” Craft said.

Both Feibus and a spokesperson for Cleco declined to comment on specifics of the ongoing litigation.

Craft and Chandler Russ, executive director of Natchez Inc., both said they are confident locals will not have any financial obligations even if the Vidalia Denim plant never turns a profit.

“It’s a different group of investors and the project is different,” Russ said. “In light of (the Gulf Coast Spinning project), we tried to make sure that the town put as little risk into this project as possible. The town is not out any dollars.”

Vidalia Denim has paid $12 million for the old Fruit of the Loom building in Vidalia, an additional $450,000 owed in back payments for the property lease and the remaining balance of $479,937.04 will be paid in five annual installments, officials have said.

“The project is funded and the town has received the money for the building,” Russ said. “We got our money first on the project and we aren’t going to be left in a quagmire. … We were able to get terms and conditions and felt comfortable with the project.”

The Town of Vidalia has agreed to return $8 million of the $12 million Vidalia Denim paid to the town for approved capital improvements to the site when certain job creation milestones are completed.

Feibus said although Donald “Donnie” Wooley of Ark-La-Tex Consultants had no equity in the project, he did a lot of the “heavy lifting” needed to get the company started along with helping other companies across the country.

Wooley said a large number of lenders who’ve supplied more than $50 million have faith in Vidalia Denim’s success, including the USDA, SBA, Jefferson Financial Credit Union of Metairie and the Greater Nevada Credit Union of Reno.

Feibus said a lot was learned from the Bunkie project.

“It taught me a lot of humility,” Feibus said. “You go out to a new plant, you meet all of these people and you think everything is great. … I was able to keep a lot of the good people I started with. One thing about the people in Vidalia — they’ve been tough but they’ve been honest, and they’ve been smart.”