MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST – With $1.5 billion in tourism developments, the Mississippi Gulf Coast is experiencing a whirlwind of growth. The broad appeal of the destination continues to gain strength in gaming, cultural attractions, golf, lodging, entertainment, family activities, and special events. “The impressive list of tourism developments on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a testament to the proactive effort here to launch the destination into a new brand. With the help of a new advertising campaign launched this Spring, the Mississippi Gulf Coast is positioned to attract more hands-on, active visitors who seek a rich diversity of experiences,” said Stephen Richer, executive director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Following is the current listing of those projects which have received both appropriate public agency approvals and financing.
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Biloxi broke ground February 10, 2004, and is scheduled to open in late summer 2005. The $235 million resort will feature a 318-room hotel, approximately 50,000 square feet of gambling space, a parking garage, pool and spa, buffet, steakhouse, grill and Hard Rock Café, a top floor nightclub and a Hard Rock Live club, which is expected to attract national and local performers. Contact: Joe Billhimer, general manager, 228-374-7625.
The Coast’s newest casino project, the Silver Slipper, broke ground January 2005. The $80 million project will feature the Coast’s only riverboat casino. The four-level anchored riverboat will have 24,000 square feet of gaming, a poker room, coinless slot machines and a casino bar with wide screen televisions and video poker. Adjacent to the riverboat will be 45,000-square-foot complex with restaurant, buffet, bar and outdoor patio. Silver Slipper is expected to open November 2005.
In May 2005, the Isle of Capri began opening a $170 million expansion of its Biloxi property. The $79 million hotel expansion features a 400-room hotel, a 12,000 sq. ft. multi-purpose center, up to 22,000 total square feet of flexible meeting space, a Caribbean-theme casual dining restaurant and rum bar, an “infinity” pool and spa. Plans are also underway for the Isle’s 10-year-old gaming barge to be replaced with a new $90 million casino that will have more gaming space and several new amenities. Contact: Karen Surber, public relations manager, 228-436-7875.
After much anticipation, Beau Rivage Resort & Casino has announced a new golf course named Fallen Oak designed by golf architect Tom Fazio. The more than $30 million project will be located on 510 acres with pecan orchards, large oaks and lakes adjacent to the DeSoto National Forest. Fallen Oaks will have water features, 10 bridges and concealed paths for carts, and a large clubhouse reminiscent of an Acadian-style Southern mansion which will feature a pro-shop, lounge and restaurant. The course is scheduled to be open for play February 2006. Contact: Mary Cracchiolo, public relations manager, 228-386-7134.
Boomtown Casino in Biloxi has purchased adjacent property and plans to move its casino barge west in early 2005. The move, a $20 million endeavor, will extend Boomtown’s presence across three lots on Bayview Avenue, which is being turned into a major thoroughfare, and increase parking by a few hundred spaces. Additionally, plans for a two-story parking garage are under consideration. Contact: Chett Harrison, director of marketing, 228-436-7508.
Following approval of an expansion referendum by Harrison County voters in the November 2004 election, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center will undergo a $68 million expansion adding up to 200,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting and exhibition space and increasing the broad appeal of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast as a prime meetings and conventions destination. The expanded Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center is targeted to be open in 2007. Contact: Bill Holmes, executive director, Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center, 228-594-3700.
By January 2005, the number of total airline seats to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast will have already increased by 20%. Additionally, increasing terminal size from 92,000 square feet to 165,000 sq. ft., the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport will provide room for three new carriers, ultimately further increasing the number of airline seats to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. The $56 million expansion began earlier this year and will be complete by 2006. Contact: Ken Spirito, assistant executive director, Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, 228-863-5951.
Work towards the new $29 million Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi progressed with the museum groundbreaking. Designed by legendary architect Frank Gehry, the complex will include a George Ohr art pottery gallery, an African American art gallery, an educational pavilion, and a contemporary art gallery. Opening is scheduled for July 2006. Also included as part of the museum campus is the Pleasant Reed House, which has been open for tours since spring 2003. Circa 1887, the Pleasant Reed House is one of the last remaining homes built and owned by a former slave. Contact: Shelly Becker, director of marketing, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, 228-374-5547.
For $82 million, the highest amount ever paid in a land sale in Mississippi, the 240-acre President Casino Broadwater Resort was sold to two local developers and a South Florida real estate group. This alliance plans to convert the existing landmark Broadwater property into an upgraded casino resort, shops, restaurants and beachfront condominiums. Total investment cost for the complete project has not yet been announced. Contact: Roy Anderson, III, 228-896-4000.
Emeril Lagasse and his wife Alden, a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, have been heavily involved in a series of fundraising events to generate $2 million for the construction of the WINGS Performing Arts & Education Center at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport. The WINGS Performing Arts Program currently features students writing, performing and producing at least three theatrical productions a year, as well as lessons in voice, dance, violin, guitar, design and stagecraft. LMDC is regarded as one of the top 50 children’s museums in the United States. Contact: Mary Anne Caldwell, marketing manager, 228-897-6039.
Gulf Islands Water Park, a $9.7 million family attraction in Gulfport, is scheduled to open in June 2005 with a wave pool, lazy river, tub slides, and a Master Blaster water-propelled roller coaster. Seasonal hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information call 1-866-GULF-FUN.
Two double-masted replicas of the famous schooners that once harvested Gulf seafood will soon dock at a new pier in Biloxi. The schooners, operated by the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, provide chartered trips in the Mississippi Sound and to Mississippi’s barrier islands. The $1.8 million schooner pier will open in Summer 2005.
An award-winning landscape architect firm recently presented master plans for the Gulf Coast Botanical Gardens at Beauvoir. Beauvoir, the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, features the Davis home, the Davis Presidential Library, Confederate Cemetery and 52-acres of beach front estate waiting to be transformed under the guidance of Marshall, Tyler and Rausch of Pittsburgh, PA, best known for their work with the Missouri Botanical Gardens. At least eight separate garden areas including an ancient moss-draped oaks shade retreat, an aquatic plant lagoon and the 19th century garden and grape arbor designed by Davis’s wife Varina, as well as a visitors center and tea room, are included in the design. The $35 million project will be completed at various stages over the next eight years. Contact: Jennifer Myers, tours and programs coordinator, Beauvoir, 228-388-9074.
Entertainment, education and NASA science are the concepts behind the $35 million space attraction scheduled to open on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast in early 2007, with formal groundbreaking in 2005. Edwin Schlossberg has been named designer of Infinity at NASA Stennis Space Center. Several hands-on exhibitions and exciting simulators including one that recreates the test firing of a Space Shuttle engine complete with mock blast are planned. The attraction will blend components of StennisSphere, the current visitor attraction at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center. Once combined and located at the new site near the welcome center off Interstate 10, the new attraction will feature a restaurant, large screen theater, lunar module, Mississippi heritage display, and items from past space voyages. Contact: Cindy Duvall, public relations, The Godwin Group, 228-388-8511.
After a land-use study for Point Cadet, the eastern gateway to Biloxi, architects have drawn plans for a $60 million expansion to J.L. Scott Marine Education Center featuring a tropical rain forest, three-story waterfall and exhibits about the deep sea. Space will also be available for a restaurant and small gift shop. An additional $17 million is proposed for a two-deck parking facility, a grassy amphitheater with views of Deer Island, boardwalks and landscaping. By the end of the year, a fund raising plan will be in place through the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, which operates the marine center.
The Center for Marine Education and Research broke ground December 2004 at Bernard Bayou in Gulfport. The 12,000 square foot facility will be a catalyst for marine science research in the Southeast region. Working with a $3 million grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the non-profit mammal research center will host marine research projects and serve as a rehabilitation center for sick and injured animals rescued from the Gulf of Mexico. The center will also feature labs, classrooms, quarantine facilities and a museum on 12 acres of waterfront land. Gulfport is an ideal location for such a center as the coastal waters off Mississippi are home to the nation’s largest dolphin populations. Contact: Mobi Solangi, President, Center for Marine Education and Research, 228-864-2511.
Construction is progressing for Beau View Towers, 4 luxurious condominium towers of 456 units in Biloxi. The first tower is scheduled to be complete in Fall 2006. Total construction cost is $150 million. Contact: Tonya Zimmern, Marketing Director, 228-385-2828 or 850-837-1880.
Rising fourteen stories above eight acres located in Gulfport, Legacy Towers Condominiums have added a new element to the Coastal skyline. Eighty million dollar project features 224 units, and opened in Spring 2005. Contact: Susan Daniels, Property Manager, 228-896-7511.
In addition to two towers of condominiums, the Villas at Legacy feature 150 units of luxury condos hidden beneath the Oak trees directly behind the towers. Construction cost is $30 million. Contact: Susan Daniels, Property Manager, 228-896-7511.
Construction on two towers of Sea Breeze Condominiums in Biloxi is underway. The $117 million resort will feature 210 units, and the project is the only condo property on the sand of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Contact: Cheryl Boudreaux, 228-435-9524.
Ocean Club at Biloxi, a three-tower, $125 million resort property on 11 acres of Biloxi beachfront, is breaking ground in July 2005. The resort, which will feature 375 units in three towers. Contact: Cheryl Boudreaux, 228-435-9524. See also www.oceanclubatbiloxi.com.
The Gulf Towers is an existing apartment property which has been approved for a $42 million condominium renovation beginning in July 2005. The Biloxi property will offer 114 units. Please contact Gulf Coast Investment Developers, Inc. at 228-435-9524 or visit www.gcid.biz.
This $19 million conversion project will renovate existing apartments into the Le Chateau Condominiums in Biloxi. Short-term rentals will be available in 58 units. Please contact Gulf Coast Investment Developers, Inc. at 228-435-9524 or visit www.gcid.biz.
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