Gaming Commission South Beach Casino Meeting
Written by on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 in 4674.
Site approval expected to be on June agenda
BILOXI - Mayor A.J. Holloway welcomed the Mississippi Gaming Commission to Biloxi and the Hard Rock Casino on Thursday and said he hopes they will look favorably on the Gold Coast Casino.
Now known as the South Beach Resort and Casino, the project was rezoned waterfront by the Biloxi City Council. The commission will determine if the property on the north side of U.S. 90 on the Biloxi Strip is a suitable casino site.
Chairman Jerry St. Pé responded to Holloway’s remarks by saying the city can count on the commission to be “aggressive visionary partners.” He said the commission would look at the South Beach project “objectively, fairly and thoroughly.”
Officials from South Beach met recently with commission Executive Director Larry Gregory, who expects the site approval could be on the commission agenda in June.
“Within 60 days we’ll know one way or another” if South Beach Casino will be approved, he said. “We’ve been keeping up with it,” and he said despite whether city officials or local people speak for or against a casino project, “we look at each individual casino on its own merit.”
The commission traditionally schedules one of its monthly meetings each year on the Coast. Also at Thursday’s meeting, the commission approved the application of Penn National Gaming, the parent company of Boomtown Biloxi and Hollywood Bay St. Louis casinos, to be acquired by private-equity firms Fortress Investment Group and Centerbridge Partners.
Loren Ostrow, president of Silver Slipper Casino, was given approval for the sale of bonds and warrants by some of the company’s bond holders. He said Silver Slipper doesn’t have dates yet for construction of an addition to the casino, which now doesn’t have hotel rooms.
“It’s a different market now,” said Ostrow, and the project remains in the planning stages. “We’re hopeful sooner rather than later” construction can begin.
Related Post here at BiloxiBlog.com: Gold Coast Biloxi
Source: SunHerald.com - Mary Perez - Link