They found a house for sale by boat in 2013. Now it’s becoming a new entertainment venue.
A couple is transforming a house they bought years ago into a new entertainment venue on the Biloxi River in Woolmarket.
The building, which will be called Pier 15, wasn’t visible from the road.
“We found it from the boat,” Kim Talley told members of the Biloxi Development Review Committee Wednesday.
She and her husband, Keith, discovered the property in 2013, when it had been on the market for only a day, and they decided to buy it. They brought plans to the city in 2016 for a riverfront hangout spot and it’s taken years to get state environmental approvals for an entertainment venue nearly surrounded by a lake and the river and with no city water service.
“This has been a long, long process,” she said.
While they waited, the Talleys added a new pier and dock, replaced the windows and doors, got the structure lifted above the base flood elevation and supported the building with steel beams.
Now they are ready to add the fun and get the venue open, Talley said.
She described how a roll-up garage door will open the building to the breezes and views. Decks will provide more seating out near the water and a stage area is planned inside the building for weekend entertainment.
The venue, which she anticipates will be open Wednesday through Sunday year-round, has its own large sand beach, she said.
What she calls “river food” will be sold out of a food truck on the site, providing fried bologna sandwiches, hamburgers, mini pizzas and other easy-to-eat favorites. Daiquiris and other cold drinks will be served indoors and out.
The Talleys plan to add kayak rentals and other features eventually.
Because that area floods about twice a year, she said, trailers will be staged at the site to remove picnic tables and anything else that might get flooded. The Pier 15 sign on top of the building will have brackets so it can lie flat when high winds are in the forecast.
The name Pier 15 comes from her husband, who is from Woolmarket.
“He was a race car driver for a very long time,” Kim Talley said, “and his number was 15.” One of the lots this entertainment camp is sitting on also is number 15, she said.
People will be able to drive to the venue, which now is visible from the new bridge.
“It used to be Lorraine Road, and we changed the name of the street,” she said, to Sandbar Lane.
Those who love to be be on the river every weekend will be able to arrive by boat.
“They’ll be able to tie their boats up and get right off on the pier,” she said.
Pier 15 is slated to open this summer.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
