Window cleaners were dangling in front of Beau Rivage’s top floor. They were wiping away the debris that stuck to the resort during and after Hurricane Katrina.
The bosses at Beau Rivage didn’t need window cleaners to see what that storm did to their downtown Biloxi resort.
“The water here actually in some parts of the casino actually hit the ceiling,” said George Corchis, the new president of Beau Rivage. “We had table games and we had slot machines piled up on each other, almost like a dam. All heading toward the north end of our property.”
When Katrina made her unwanted visit, Corchis was applying for Beau Rivage’s top job. Despite an estimated $500 million in rebuilding costs, and a one year reopening deadline, he accepted the task of putting Beau Rivage back together.
“We’re trying to create a fresher experience for our guests,” he said. “And we’re trying to make sure that we fix the interior design problems that we originally had with the Beau Rivage.”
One of those design problems is Corchis’ most important change. He moved the center table games, and created a larger walkway through the heart of the casino. That will give guests have more room to move around the resort.
“Like I mentioned earlier, we took the opportunity the last 12 months to actually redesign and refresh the entire property,” he said.
Beau now has new slot machines, a new high limit gaming area, and three new high end restaurants. It still has its pub, but it’s no longer brewing its own beer. That equipment got washed out to sea during the storm.
The initial renovations must be done by August 29th. Corchis understands the significance of that date.
“August 29 is going to be a day of reflection, a sense of tremendous gravity,” he said.
So Beau’s reopening will be rather subdued. Unlike other MGM Mirage openings, there won’t be fireworks at Beau’s re-emergence into the Biloxi casino market. However, as guests wander through the rebuilt resort, they’ll clearly see the company’s post Katrina message.
“We’re going to open our doors that day and provide jobs for 3,800 of our employees,” Corchis said. “In essence, we’re going to put 3,800 families back on their feet again. That’s going to all us to help ignite the economy of Biloxi and the gulf coast region of Mississippi.”
When Beau Rivage opens, about 1,200 of its 1,800 hotel rooms will be rented to guests. And three of its high end restaurants will still be under construction. The entire resort should be remodeled by December.
Beau Rivage already has a list of entertainers coming to Biloxi. Jay Leno headlines the first show. It’s September 9, 2006 in the Magnolia Ballroom. Beau Rivage won’t have its theater up and running again until December. And it won’t go after convention business until 2007.
by Brad Kessie WLOX
BILOXI, Miss. – Ten hours after the doors to Boomtown Casino opened for the first time since Hurricane Katrina closed them, beads of sweat trickled down James Walker’s smiling face after a long shift dealing cards.
Returning to his old job felt like ‘‘hitting the Lotto’’ to Walker, who worked at a Lowe’s home improvement store while he waited for the western-themed casino to reopen June 29.
‘‘It feels like I never left,’’ said the 32-year-old father of two, whose uniform is a T-shirt that boasts, ‘‘We’re Back in the Saddle Again!’’
Walker is one of thousands of casino employees returning to work this summer as more hotel and casino resorts reopen on Mississippi’s hurricane-battered Gulf Coast. And for many, the tip-driven incomes are a welcome relief from minimum wages, odd jobs or unemployment checks.
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According to the project manager for the redevelopment of the Broadwater Hotel site, Foxwoods Development Co. has not pulled out of its deal to build a casino there. Mark Calvert, of investment banking firm Cascade Capital, said Foxwoods’ 60-day exclusive window to conduct due diligence ran out within the last 10 days.
Foxwoods is looking at an approximately 16-acre site on the 261-acre property being developed by W.C. “Cotton” Fore and Roy Anderson III. “We said we’d entertain other offers, so we have four other players talking to us about the possibility of doing the deal,” Calvert said. He said he’s still working with Foxwoods daily. An official at Foxwoods declined to comment, referring questions to the tribe’s public-relations office in Connecticut. Phones messages left there were not returned Wednesday afternoon.
The tribe had previously touted a plan to invest $400 million or more in Biloxi. The world’s largest casino, Foxwoods, is in southeast Connecticut on the lands of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. The complex employs 12,000 people and has 7,400 slot machines, 365 table games, 35 restaurants, 25 retail outlets, two showrooms and 80 poker tables. Foxwoods is competing to acquire a casino license in Philadelphia, Pa., and is working with another American Indian tribe in California on a project there.
Officials had said the casino here would operate like non-Indian casinos in Mississippi, paying the same taxes and being subject to the same rules and regulations. The Mississippi Gaming Commission ruled last month that its location north of U.S. 90 is a legal gambling site, after developers finished ironing out a lease with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office for waterfront property required to link to the inland sites.
Calvert, who said demolition is expected to begin at the site by the end of the month, would not identify the other four companies that are now involved. Beverly Martin, executive director of the Mississippi Casino Operators Association, said she’s not surprised by that fact. “It’s a prime site,” she said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me a bit that somebody else would come in and scoop it up.” She said it might be hard for other operators to match Foxwoods’ financial clout, however. Martin said many companies like to throw around talk about developments in the $1 billion neighborhood. “Foxwoods is really one of the ones that can pull it off,” she said.
