MS company exploring major hotel with flying taxis for Coast Coliseum property
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bellamare is considering a 250-room Embassy Suites for the Coliseum property.
- Bellamare seeks a 99-year lease at $1 per year and $8.4 million in tax incentives.
- The company estimates it would spend up to $85 million on hotel development.
Bellamare Development LLC is exploring the possibility of building a convention hotel at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center in Biloxi.
Bellamare, based in the Jackson area, is co-developer of the $105 million Gulfport Town Center in downtown Gulfport.
The company is considering a 250-room Embassy Suites by Hilton for the coliseum property. The cost would range from $77.5-$85 million. Bellamare has a 180-day exclusive deal to determine whether the hotel would be feasible.
“We’re just in very early stages,” said Anna Jane English, Bellemare’s vice president of development. “We’re exploring all options.”
Bellamare has connections with other hotel franchises that could be considered. At the Gulfport Town Center, a Marriott Portfolio Hotel is being built.
Biloxi convention hotel explored
A study for the coliseum determined business is being lost because no hotel is attached to the convention center.
Bellamare decided to explore the possibilities after conversations with Biloxi officials. The Coliseum Commission did not solicit competitive proposals for a hotel and was not required to by state law, said Executive Director Sam Voison.
Bellamare would pay for development of the hotel in exchange for a 99-year lease with the coliseum for $1 a year. The company also would ask for tax and other incentives that it values at $8.4 million, according to a letter of intent signed with the Coliseum Commission and approved in a closed meeting of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors.
State law allows government bodies to close meetings related to the sale or leasing of land. The county has since included the letter of intent in its public minutes.
“Throughout this process, the Commission has focused intently on identifying a development partner that aligns with the long-term vision and goals for the Coliseum and Convention Center campus,” Voison said in response to the Sun Herald’s emailed questions. Voison said that he was unavailable Wednesday for a telephone interview.
Coliseum long pushed for hotel development
The coliseum has worked for years to secure a hotel deal and has come close more than once. An Embassy Suites hotel was announced in 2018 and another group signed a lease in 2019 for a Marriott. But both deals fell through.
Voison said in his email: “There has been significant interest in a campus headquarter hotel the entire time. The amount of activity and economic impact the Coliseum and Convention (Center) generates overwhelmingly shows support for a hotel on campus. While several companies have expressed interest, none have come close to the credentials and resources that Bellamare has shown.”
A “critical” component of the hotel, according to the letter of intent, is a climate-controlled walkway between the hotel and convention center that the coliseum would be responsible for building and maintaining.
The letter also says Bellamare would build a full-service hotel with a site plan that incorporates an air taxi infrastructure, which allows vertical takeoff and landing at vertiports. Vertiports eliminate the need for runways.
The convention center would become one of the first in the Southeast to offer direct air taxi service, a competitive advantage, Bellamare says.
