A $250 million bet
GULFPORT - Slots should be reeling again in Gulfport by summer.
Rick Carter and Terry Green are moving forward with a $250 million investment to buy and rebuild a gambling resort at the site of the former Grand Casino. Their plans are to have two casinos: one to open this year on the north side of U.S. 90 and another one possibly on the south side of the highway.
Construction to convert space inside the Oasis Hotel into a casino may start as soon as March 16 - the day the Mississippi Gaming Commission could grant site approval and the day after the closing on the property. Carter and Green, the partners in Gulfside Casino Partnership who operated the Copa before Hurricane Katrina, are buying the property of what was their bigger competitor from Harrah’s Entertainment.
But when the casino opens, it won’t be called the Copa.
“We’re studying names right now,” Carter said. “This is going to be complementary with the same business that was there prior to Katrina. Grand Gulfport was a fabulous, fabulous property. It’s the reason we chose to pick it up.”
Roy Anderson Corp. will convert hotel space into a casino and have 600 rooms ready for occupancy within 120 days, Carter said.
The casino will open with about 1,000 slot machines and some table games, but longer-term it will have 2,000 slot machines and 50 table games. The casino will later be expanded toward the Lazy River.
“There may be some bigger casinos on this Coast, but there will be none any more elaborate or beautiful,” Carter said.
The Copa name will return at a later stage in the build-out. It will operate as a second free-standing casino.
Employment will be around 1,500 once the expansion at the Oasis is complete. A second casino, which is still in the planning stages, would employ another 800 to 1,000.
Gulfside Casino Partnership will post online job applications and schedule job fairs to fill the positions opening this year.
“We are planning some big things,” Carter said. “We’re going to build something that’s going to knock everybody’s socks off.”
The plans call for a marina, restaurants and lounges on the beachside of the property.
“We’ve got a great bunch of financial people behind us,” he said, who are lenders - not new partners.
A new state law allows casinos on land within 800 feet of where gambling barges were required to moor before Hurricane Katrina.
In addition to seeking site approval from the Gaming Commission, Gulfside Casino Partnership is asking the city of Gulfport to zone land on the north side of U.S. 90 for gambling.
Gulfport had two casinos before the storm, but no zoning for them because both operated out of an industrial area belonging to the State Port. The city is considering a new entertainment zoning classification for land-based casinos.
A public hearing on the new zoning classification is set for 4 p.m. today at Gulfport City Hall.
Source: Sun Herald