Legislature directs $56M to South MS projects. Hospitals, coliseum big winners

South Mississippi projects are expected to receive a total of $41.1 million in grants and another $14.729 million in loans from the Mississippi Legislature for 2026-27.

The money comes from the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund, which receives an annual payment from BP through a settlement with Gulf states over the 2010 oil catastrophe in the Gulf. Annual funding through 2033 compensates the state for economic losses. Funding will total $477 million and arrives in annual increments of about $30 million.

However, GCRF reserves built up after the Legislature overspent the annual allotment and decided against funding any projects in 2024 or 2025.

Before approving projects, the state Legislature considers recommendations from a panel of South Mississippi business leaders. The GCRF advisory committee spends months poring over applications submitted through an online portal. The Mississippi Development Authority oversees the process and also submits recommendations to the Legislature.

This year, MDA Executive Director Bill Cork recommended that most of the GCRF money go into revolving loan programs focused on Coast ports, airport improvements, and technology and entrepreneurship.

Cork said in a recommendation letter to state officials, “Without a unified coastal strategy, the region risks losing out on transformative opportunities already emerging across the Gulf South.”

The Legislature is expected to establish a revolving loan fund through a bill that is being finalized. Sen. Brice Wiggins said legislators have discussed the fund for two years and did not act based on Cork’s letter. The loan fund would be administered by the Southern Mississippi Planning and Development District.

Many of the projects selected for grants were recommended by the GCRF advisory committee, but Wiggins stressed the Legislature has final say on how the money is spent. Both the grant funding and revolving loan fund bills are still being finalized before being sent to the governor for his signature.

“I think the list is representative of the projects that were put into the portal by governments and people across the counties,” Wiggins said. “The ones that were selected, they certainly have value and merit and will transform the economies in the bottom six counties.”

Gulf Coast Restoration Fund grants

Grant fund amounts and projects set to receive GCRF funding through SB 3071:

• $5.476 million: Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum, Coliseum Expansion.
• $5 million: Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, Bollinger Shipyards, Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding Bulkhead Rehabilitation.
• $4 million: Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, Pearl River County Industrial Park Speculative Building.
• $3.5 million: Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, Law Enforcement Training Academy Improvements Phase II.
• $3 million: Memorial Hospital Foundation, Memorial Multispecialty Center Construction.
• $2.8 million: City of Moss Point, Highway 63/Escatawpa Natural Gas Pipeline Installation.
• $2.548 million: Stone County Board of Supervisors, Industrial Park Land/Sewer Project.
• $2 million: Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission, Stennis International Airport Site Hangar Development.
• $2 million: Diamondhead, Commercial District Transformation Phase IV.
• $1.764 million: City of Lucedale, Cowart Street Improvements.
• $1.5 million: City of Ocean Springs, Public Works Redevelopment and Relocation Phase I and II.
• $1.5 million: Long Beach Harbor, Long Beach Harbor Complex Restoration.
• $1.5 million: William Carey University, Tradition Campus Student Housing.
• $1.029 million: George County Board of Supervisors, Industrial Park Water System Expansion Project.
• $1 million: Mississippi Songwriters Alliance, design of exhibits and improvements to the Mississippi Songwriters Performing Arts Center.
• $900,000: LaPointe-Krebs Foundation, development of a new LaPointe-Kreb Interpretive Center.
• $750,000: City of Waveland, Waterfront Improvements.
• $675,000: Singing River Health System, Healthcare Academy Expansion Initiative Phase II.
• $150,000: Lucedale-George County Historical Society, Lucedale-George County History Museum.

Legislature proposes revolving loans

Projects included in a revolving loan fund, Senate Bill 3051, and amounts each is set to receive:

• $5 million: Superior Optical Labs LLC, Facility Expansion for Government Contracts.
• $3 million: Memorial Hospital Foundation, Memorial Multispecialty Center.
• $2 million: BEST Holdings, Tomaston Medical Park Phase Development – The Medical Center of Mississippi in Woolmarket.
• $1.5 million: William Carey University, Tradition Campus Student Housing.
• $1.5. Million: City of Ocean Springs, Public Works Redevelopment and Relocation Phases 1 and 2.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription