A Clinton contractor was the lone bidder for Phase 3 of the Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Information and Technology project, also known as MCITy.

The $6.412 million bid from Shane Ormon Construction Management and Design was opened recently and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen took the bid under advisement.

The MCITy project is the conversion of the old Mississippi Hardware building into a regional technology center. The project has been developed in phases, starting with enlarging the building’s parking lot and renovating its exterior.

Pablo Diaz, Vicksburg Warren Economic Development Partnership president and CEO, said Phase 3 is the completion of the building’s interior.

“This would finish the inside of the building and whatever accommodations are needed for the first new tenants,” he said. “Those (companies) that have said they intend to move into the building have been working with the architects to design those spaces.”

Diaz was unable, however, to say how many potential tenants have committed to moving in.

The project was introduced to the board in August 2017 by a group of developers who purchased the old Mississippi Hardware building on Washington Street. The group unveiled plans for a $19 million project to convert the former garment factory and hardware building into a multi-floor regional innovation and tech transfer center.

The building was named for former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in February.