Meet the New Orleans native with Waveland roots bringing luxury lofts to the MS Coast
A multi-million dollar project bringing 15 lofts with dining, art and more to downtown Bay St. Louis will be the first mixed-use development of its kind in the trendy city, and it’s spearheaded by Christian Glavin.
His New Orleans roots are five-generations deep and he also has ties to the Coast. His mother grew up in Waveland, his grandparents are among the pioneers of the city of Diamondhead and his parents live in Pass Christian.
He left the area to get a degree in textile technology and worked in fashion marketing, promotion and design from New York to Atlanta.
He was drawn back to the Gulf Coast when Hurricane Katrina hit and he worked with the Small Business Development Administration at Loyola University and became a professor of the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at Tulane University. After Katrina and Rita, Gustav and Ike, the hurricanes that followed, he was helping small business owners with recovery, economics, marketing and website design.
“That’s when my passion really shifted to real estate,” he said, and he expanded that to incorporate his passion for design.
Farragut lofts coming to Bay St. Louis
Farragut Lofts is the largest project of Christian Shane Development to date, although he has larger ones in progress and two more projects in the planning stages in Mississippi, he said.
Coming inside of a 100-year-old building adjacent to Old Town Bay St. Louis, each unit will have a unique floor plan. Those who live in the lofts will enjoy a laundry list of amenities, including a resort-style pool, gym with Peloton access, library, art gallery, cigar bar and more.
Besides his real estate and development companies, he has separate companies for lifestyle, design and hospitality.
If the owner chooses, Farragut Lofts can come fully designed and furnished, and Glavin said the goal is to provide clients with what they need, whether building or buying a new home or hosting a wedding.
His staff, which includes his father and sister among the 12 employees and 30 agents, has staged a condo project that sold in 12 hours and completed a project for a developer who was overwhelmed, he said.
In April, he brought on Adam Stahura as regional sales director of Christian Shane Properties and promoted Melissa Fitzgibbon to director of Christian Shane Development to help oversee the $25 million in projects under development, including Farragut Lofts.
“It’s just special to come back and do a project like this,” he said.