Want to live on the Back Bay? Waterfront condos and hotel resort proposed in Biloxi
A developer brought plans to the city Wednesday to build a combination condominium and hotel resort on the Biloxi waterfront.
The proposed site at Bayview and Diaz avenues is immediately west of the I-110 bridge and IP Casino Resort.
“It’s a very good location,” said Coast developer John Felsher, who presented the plans Wednesday to the Biloxi Community Review Committee along with noted architect Mack McKinney.
Under the preliminary plans, the 6-acre site would have a combination of a 12-story tower with 185 units set among low casitas with another dozen units, “Which will give us more of a resort feel,” McKinney said.
Among the amenities planned are a swimming pool, a wharf and waterfront bar and dining.
Felsher said a national group is interested in managing the resort.
Remember condotels?
Plans for condotel towers were the rage in South Mississippi 15-20 years ago.
“At one time, we had 26 condo projects going through the process,” Jerry Creel, community development director, said during the DRC meeting. “Then Hurricane Katrina hit.”
McKinney is known for designing resorts across the South and Felsher said, “He designs taking into account the views.”
The units on the higher levels would have views of both the Back Bay to the north and the beaches of the Mississippi Sound and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.
A two-story parking garage would provide two spaces per unit rather than the required one space.
This new project would put the casino and its restaurants in walking distance for those who want to drive to a casino destination and be able to social distance with a view. The developer didn’t yet present the size of the units or the cost.
In 2013, the Biloxi Council rezoned the site waterfront to make way for a new casino, but Mississippi Gaming Commission regulations don’t allow for casinos west of I-110 on the Back Bay in Biloxi.
Keeping it Biloxi
City arborist Eric Nolan said the plans showed plenty of landscaping and are preliminary enough that the developer should consider designing around the old trees still on the waterfront site.
“We would love to have that,” McKinney said.
Part of the road along the waterfront would be closed under the plan, and more direct access would be provided.
The proposed height is just over 170 feet, which puts it below the flight path of the nearby Keesler Air Force Base and and below the height of the 32-story IP Casino.
Woolmarket development
The DRC also had a first look Wednesday at plans for Creek Crossing Subdivision on Shriners Boulevard in Woolmarket, just south of the city line.
Kenneth Jones, representing Elliott Homes, said they are looking at any wetlands on the 150-acre site and where to put the entrance and the emergency access road.
He said Elliott Homes has two other subdivisions in that area that are selling well.
