Owner donates $28 million Biloxi casino site to a MS Coast nonprofit
Chris Ferrara has the pretty renderings to show he came close to developing a casino in East Biloxi, but now he’s donated an approved casino site to a Coast nonprofit.
He gave the 30-acre property just east of IP Casino and Boomtown Biloxi to the local Boys and Girls Club of the Gulf Coast. The land is valued at $28 million, he said.
“I did it truly just to help the Boys and Girls Club,” Ferrara said.
He was around the club in his younger years, he said, and saw what the organization does to make a difference in kids’ lives.
The transaction was completed on Dec. 31, after Ferrara paid about $75,000 in taxes on the property.
The Golden Gulf Casino land at the corner of Crawford Street and Back Bay Boulevard now is held by the Boys and Girls Club as tax exempt, he said. A representative of the club did not return calls for comment about the donation.
“They can do what they want to do with it,” he said of the donated site.
Approved casino site
Ferrara started purchasing land on both sides of Eighth Street and from Back Bay Biloxi to Division Street before Hurricane Katrina, and said he’s since assembled 14 or 15 parcels.
He’s now one of the largest property owners in East Biloxi.
The property he donated has site approval from the Mississippi Gaming Commission since shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
“Site approval can be transferred,” said Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Gaming Commission. If the site is sold for a casino, the new operators would have to be found suitable by the Gaming Commission and the project would have to go through the approval process.
Not included in the donation to the Boys and Girls Club were the casino site that Ferraro owns where the former Heinz pet food plant stands, or the adjacent Biloxi Boardwalk Marina and a restaurant that houses Gollott’s Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant.
In September he closed the marina after 10 years and $6 million in investment because he said it was losing money. A letter to those who had boats at the marina said the Boardwalk couldn’t compete with the city-owned marinas.
No road, no casino
Ferraro had agreements to build a casino at the Heinz site with Foxwoods and other operators, who he said weren’t willing to begin work until the city agreed to build an access road.
Much of the East Biloxi Loop was completed years ago, linking the casinos from the Biloxi Bay Bridge, west on U.S. 90, north on Caillavet Street and east across Back Bay Boulevard.
The last link, never finished, would connect from Back Bay Boulevard south to U.S. 90, and that lack of access was one of the reasons Margaritaville Casino closed.
Six years ago in 2015, the Biloxi council voted to approve the plan to finish the loop in preparation for Ferraro’s proposed $260 million casino resort with a large convention and entertainment center, hotel, shops, restaurant and a bowling alley.
Ferrara said that commitment from the city to build the last part of the road — from Back Bay Boulevard down Pine Street to U.S. 90 — was needed to get the financing.
The project was estimated to cost $22 million at that time. Ferraro was to donate land for the road and the casino developers were to kick in $7 million. The city had $5 million approved from the Mississippi Development Authority and needed to come up with $9 million to complete the financing.
Before any work on the road began, the agreement required the casino developers to close on the $260 million project.
In a chicken and egg scenario, the road never was never started and the casino never built.
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
