Who will get control of waterfront site that was once Lady Luck Casino, Fisherman’s Wharf?
Twenty years after the case was filed to determine who owns the land where Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant and Lady Luck casino operated in East Biloxi, the lawsuit will go to court this week.
The trial is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 8-9, in Gulfport.
John and Jackie Aldrich bought Fisherman’s Wharf in 1974 and for nearly 20 years operated the restaurant on the beach at the foot of Oak Street.
It’s just west of where Margaritaville Resort Biloxi, The Great Lawn at Harrah’s Gulf Coast and The Blind Tiger now stand.
Wrestling for control of the acre-plus lot south of U.S. 90 has continued through three secretaries of state — Eric Clark, Delbert Hosemann and now by Michael Watson.
John Aldrich, who inherited the site from his parents, sums up the legal battle with the secretaries of state this way: “Their position is that they own 100% and our position is we own 100%,” he said.
Colorful history of the site
Fisherman’s Wharf was famous for its mystery pie, which President Gerald Ford was rumored to try in 1976, when he and his party of 54 people ate in the main dining room, according to Sun Herald archives.
The Aldrich family leased the property to Lady Luck casino, which opened in December 1993. The casino operator also leased land to the east and north of the site.
Lady Luck was known for its Asian Dragon of Good Fortune, a $4 million smoking dragon, built by the Florida company that built the Dancing Bears at Disney World.
The Wharf continued at Lady Luck until 1996, when Aldrich was dismissed as manager. Under the lease agreement, Aldrich kept the rights to the restaurant name and menu, and he reopened in Ocean Springs.
Lady Luck closed in June 1998 when the casino was sold and the land was leased to Grand Casinos, predecessor to Harrah’s Gulf Coast. Aldrich said the casino later dropped the lease when they determined not to build there.
Property empty for decades
Aldrich said the dispute has held up development of the property while he continues to pay lawyer fees and property taxes.
He had the land under contract with a national company that wanted to build there, Aldrich said, and he lost that deal and subsequent ones because of the delayed lawsuit.
“I would like to do something down there,” he said, as a joint venture and possibly bringing Fisherman’s Wharf back to Biloxi.
Watson said often when a case is delayed for a long time, it is caused by the person who filed the lawsuit.
The coronavirus and more recently a scheduling conflict in September are the latest two reasons the case hasn’t gone to trial, Aldrich said.
Control to be determined
This is not the only tidelands case he’s fighting in court, Watson said.
In November, the Biloxi Council and Harrison County Supervisors gave RW Development approval to build a pier at Veterans Avenue in Biloxi. Watson has an appeal filed with the Supreme Court to stop the pier from being built by a developer.
In 2018, then Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann came to an agreement with the developers of Margaritaville Resort Biloxi over tidelands issues so that an amusement park — now under construction— and hotel tower can be built.
Biloxi and Harrison County, which could lose tax revenue if the secretary of state wins, asked to join Aldrich’s lawsuit that could set precedent on who controls development along casino row in Biloxi.
The Secretary of State’s Office manages the state’s tidelands, and Mississippi law establishes that the state holds in trust for the public that waterfront subject to the ebb and flow of the tide.
Previously, the state claimed only a sliver of the waterfront property and signed leases based on that property line. Now the state claims it controls all the property up to U.S. 90.
Biloxi’s legal motion asked that if the Secretary of State wins the case, tidelands funds should be used to pay the city for future lost property taxes for the site.
This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
