South MS developer’s plans for beach homes just grew with purchase of another site
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- Arbor Properties acquired 18 acres to expand Gulfport beach home project.
- New addition connects land-locked section of former golf course to main road.
- Development called 'The Great Southern' honors historic golf course legacy.
Plans to develop the former great Southern Golf Club property in Gulfport grew Monday, when Arbor Properties purchased the former Sun Herald site on DeBuys Road.
The 18-acre property is added to the 130 acre golf course site purchased in 2021. It gives access to the land-locked northern section of the former golf course, said Gordon Thames, president of Arbor Properties.
This additional property “provides a natural and obvious entrance to the previously land locked ‘back nine’ of the former golf course at the Great Southern,” Thames said. The golf course was split by the railroad tracks and acquiring this property is an alternative to the process of trying to get a new railroad crossing, he said.
Work has already begun at the front section, just off U.S. 90 at the Gulfport-Biloxi line, overlooking the beach and out to the Mississippi Sound. He said work will also start soon on the north side.
The name of the development is “The Great Southern,“ and it will pay homage to the history of the course Woodrow Wilson once played, Thames said.
What’s being built
The back part of the property has 322 home lots with the correct zoning. With about 165 sites on the south side, there will be close to 500 home sites total, he said.
“It will inject new life into this area, enabling young professionals and retirees to live in an area that satisfies the real reason many of them live this area,” he said, “namely actually living at the Coast. The community should also benefit from significant new tax revenue as well as the growth of businesses in the surrounding area that typically occurs when approximately 1,500 productive new Gulfport citizens move in.”
A contractor is signed to build 134 sites, he said, and the company will keep the front 31 properties with water views until the neighborhood is built up and the amenities developed.
Plans call for remodeling the former golf course club house into one for the community and adding a swimming pool and pickleball courts, he said. The golf cart path will remain so residents can take a golf cart, a bike or walk between the homes and amenities.
Katrina +20
The property assembled by Arbor Properties is actually on some of the highest natural ground along the Coast, Thames said. The front homes will have to be raised only a few feet, which will allow Southern style homes and easier access.
Based in Tallahassee, Florida, the company operates Arbor apartment complexes across the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
“Arbor is especially pleased that this deal has come together at the cusp of the 20th anniversary of Katrina,” Thames said, “as it is another opportunity and example of both Arbor’s and the Coast’s continuing determination to successfully build our Community back better together from the damage that monster hurricane imposed on all of us 20 years ago.”
Great Southern golf course was built in 1908 and was badly damaged during Katrina. Great Southern Golf Club filed for bankruptcy in 2019 to restructure the $4 million debt accumulated on the 129-acre property since Hurricane Katrina.
Arbor Landing on The River apartment complex in Biloxi sits at the site of the former FEMA emergency trailer park erected on Popp’s Ferry Road after Katrina.
Arbor properties continues to help South Mississippi rebound from Katrina’s wrath, Thames said, and build communities that meet the need of high quality housing for the Coast workforce and retirees.
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 11:02 AM.
