South MS city pins hopes on hotel developer who faces debt over failed project
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- Gautier sold 2.9 acres for $1,000 to developer Anand Patel for a new hotel project.
- Patel faces over $500K in unresolved debt linked to failed hotel ventures in Alabama.
- Hotel deal includes a clause allowing the city to reclaim land if deadlines aren't met.
An Alabama resident who has faced legal woes over his hotel developments there has inked an agreement to bring a Hilton or Marriott to the city of Gautier’s Town Center.
The Gautier City Council recently voted unanimously to sell 2.9 acres to Anand Patel at the old Singing River Mall property. Gautier wants to develop a Town Center and has been trying for years to lure developers to the property. The mall closed in 2014.
The Legislature gave the city $5 million to buy the 55 acres and also passed a special law for Gautier that allows the city to sell mall property at below market value for development as long as it creates economic growth and benefits the community.
Patel will pay $1,000 for the land, a real estate sales agreement says. He has 90 days before closing to complete property feasibility studies. The parcel Patel is buying sits to the west and north of Belk department store, the only remnant of the mall and a parcel owned by Belk.
Gautier is hoping to parlay public investments — including a nearby concert amphitheater and a songwriters peforming arts center under construction — into a bustling hub that would include restaurants and the hotel.
For the hotel, the city has chosen to do business with a developer who was sued in Alabama, along with associates, over debts totaling around $3 million. Four federal cases filed in 2015 and 2016 against Patel and associates detail a loan default, failure to pay franchise fees on hotels and major fire-code violations at one of the hotels.
Patel and his father still owe $529,711 to Edgefield Holdings LLC, a recent court filing in Alabama shows. Edgefield has enrolled the debt in Mississippi, which means Edgefield could try to collect from any assets Patel establishes in this state. The Patels defaulted on the debt more than 10 years ago, court records show.
Gautier’s city manager and mayor say they relied on consultants Blackwater Development Co. LLC to vet Patel’s proposal. Mayor Casey Vaughan said he was familiar with a Sun Herald article that detailed Patel’s legal issues in Alabama and asked that due diligence be completed on Patel’s proposal before it was approved.
City Manager Paula Yancey said she does not know much about Patel. “I know he owns a bunch of hotels,” she said. Blackwater’s president, John Abernathy, said he would not comment on his client’s “business matter.”
Ocean Springs hotel deal ‘dead’
Patel approached the city about Town Center property for a hotel, Yancey said. She said the city is protected by its sales agreement with Patel. It says he must develop a Hilton or Marriott hotel. The hotel must be completed, fully staffed and open for business 18 months after closing, the agreement says. Otherwise, the city can reclaim the property.
Patel previously tried without success to develop a hotel in downtown Ocean Springs.
Karen Stennis said she and two other members of the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen met around June with Patel and a consultant working with him. Patel had said he planned to bring an upscale Marriott brand to the city.
“He had never done a hotel of this caliber that he wanted to do over here,” she said. “He told us in the meeting.” The project, she said, “is dead.”
“The developer never closed on the hotel, never met deadlines. Nothing,” Stennis said. Greg Cronin, a banker who chaired the Ocean Springs Redevelopment Authority, confirmed that Patel never met his deadlines. But, as Cronin pointed out, Patel was trying to buy a piece of property contaminated when it was the site of an optics manufacturing plant.
Cronin confirmed that Patel was unable to meet self-imposed deadlines or produce a franchise agreement with Marriott.
In a short interview, Patel said property contamination was a major problem in Ocean Springs. “The environmental concerns stretched beyond the property in question,” he said. He would not elaborate.
Patel also would not discuss what hotels he has developed or where they are located. When asked if he had any other Marriott or Hilton franchises, he said, “I’ve dealt with Marriott and Hilton before.” When pressed, he said that he has had franchise agreements with the both brands, but wouldn’t say where.
Alabama hotels sold at auction
In Alabama, Ramada Worldwide Inc. terminated a franchise agreement with Patel and associates on a hotel in Brewton. The hotel was sold at auction for around $40,000 to partially satisfy a debt. Another Patel hotel in Brewton, once a Days Inn, also sold at auction , with $200,000 in proceeds applied to the debt owed to Edgefield Holdings, court records show.
A Sept. 4 news release posted on Gautier’s Facebook page after the city reached its sales agreement with Patel said:
“Anand Patel, owner of Stay Gautier LLC, and his team have developed numerous hotel properties across the Southeast, including Hampton Inns in Alabama and Louisiana, Home2 Suites in Florida and Alabama, a Best Western in Brewton, Ala., and Hilton properties near Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Current projects include new hotels under construction in Alabama and North Carolina.”
In addition to its considerable investment in the mall and surrounding properties, including Town Commons Park, Gautier officials have big hopes for the hotel.
Councilwoman Kay Jamison was under the impression that Patel had previously developed hotels with both Hilton and Marriott.
She said the city needs a hotel at the Town Center for the 6,000 to 8,000 people who show up for concerts at The Sound amphitheater. The city has two hotels, but one is an extended-stay hotel.
Jamison said she hopes that no issues arise in Gautier with Patel’s proposed hotel because “we’re super excited and eager to have a hotel in Gautier.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
