 | Now: 63°F | Low: 52° High: 63° |
BILOXI — While they wait for the economy to turn and credit to loosen, developers are moving ahead with plans to expand a casino and build shops, restaurants, a marina, miniature golf course, museums and housing in Biloxi.
Much of the housing, including senior apartments, waterfront condos and hundreds of homes and apartments, is going up north of the Back Bay. Yet there is development throughout the city.
“You don’t realize it unless you go out and ride around,” said Biloxi Community Development Director Jerry Creel.
RW Development is ready to return fun to the beach. On the west side of Veterans Avenue at U.S. 90, Ray Wooldridge said he is building two themed 18-hole miniature golf courses linked by a video arcade.
“We should have that completed and operational by March,” he said.
About the same time he will open a restaurant on the south side of U.S. 90. It won’t be a franchise seafood restaurant, he said, it will have a local operator who will bring the flavor of Biloxi to the beach club.
North of the railroad tracks on the east side of Veterans Avenue, Wooldridge plans 35 townhouses, and RW Development’s South Beach condotel is ready to open on the beach. Wooldridge said he’s getting a jump on the economy and, “hopefully it will be a catalyst and other people will start putting in amenities.”
He’s leaving his proposed site of South Beach Casino untouched for now. “I certainly have not lost my interest or my energy for that to happen,” he said.
East Biloxi
Four years after Hurricane Katrina leveled many of the homes and buildings, East Biloxi is booming with construction in every neighborhood, including the stately Slavonian Lodge, the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum and the Sheraton Four Points hotel, set to open on Beach Boulevard this winter.
The Palace Casino, which moved from its barge into the hotel after the storm, will be transformed back into a resort with a $45 million expansion that is about to begin.
Back Bay Casino may be on hold because of the economy, but Stephen Carter said the company is ready to start construction of Biloxi Bluez Marina Grill and Bar at the site.
Similar to The Dock in Gulfport but with Biloxi flair, it will start with a 36-slip full-service marina that can accommodate 40-foot boats. Carter said they’ll add waterfront dining and retail at the site north of Bayview and east of Holley Street.
FEMA funds and insurance money are being pooled to build a new Biloxi Lighthouse visitors center, library and community center and to restore nine historic buildings along with piers and harbors in East Biloxi.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@