Builder drops plans for condos along Ocean Springs beach. What’s next?
Plans are dead for a condominium development on Front Beach in Ocean Springs, Realtor Brad Jay said Thursday.
Jay said the potential buyer, developer Steve Bryan of Mid South Companies LLC in Ridgeland, was unable to muster support from a new administration for variances needed to build the six-story condominium complex at the corner of Porter Avenue and Front Beach Drive.
The wooded acreage is back on the market for $7 million, Jay said. The property, owned by Naomi Enterprises, includes a strip of beach on the south side of Front Beach Drive that the neighboring Ocean Springs Yacht Club has used for decades. On the north side, a canopy of trees welcomes motorists as they drive east into the city.
A new mayor and Board of Aldermen with a majority of new faces won’t take office until July 1. But they’ve already indicated that they will be less welcoming to development at the expense of historic preservation.
For example, Jay said, the developer needed a variance to take down at least 12 mature Live oaks on the property, but Mayor-elect Bobby Cox and some aldermen indicated they will not support cutting down the trees. Cox swamped a field of four in the Republican primary, including current Mayor Kenny Holloway.
“I’m personally happy that potentially the new development will leave the trees,” Jay said. “I think it’s good that there’s going to be more preservation.” Preservation of the city’s oaks, he said, was a big issue for voters, as was allowing fewer variances for developers.
Inviting entrance to Ocean Springs
Jay has always felt that a preservation project could work for the property because of its location across from the public beach and its unspoiled nature.
‘It’s stunning,” he said. Jay is working with a local artist to interest nonprofit organizations in investing in at least a portion of the property. The north portion, he said, could still potentially be developed for mixed-use, with businesses on the first floor and condominiums above.
He envisions the development connecting to a botanical garden. Nonprofit investment would leave wooded acreage nearest the beach open to the public.
A “walkable piece of nature,” he said, would add value to the community as a whole.
Ocean Springs artist Glenn Miller is working with Jay to find nonprofit buyers. Miller said he’s sending inquiries about investing in the land to a list of conservation nonprofits.
“We’re going to put out a request to consider this and see what happens,” he said. “To me, it’s the entrance to Ocean Springs off the bridge going east. If that canopy of trees is removed . . . it would create a bad appearance.”
