Casino news source: The Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com/
Treasure Bay could reopen by next month
By TOM WILEMON
tewilemon@sunherald.com
May. 24, 2006
BILOXI - Treasure Bay could be the fourth casino to reopen after Hurricane Katrina.
The Biloxi City Council on Tuesday put its reopening on a fast track by unanimously voting to rezone the property and dropping a usually required lag time for a new land use to become effective.
The action allows Treasure Bay to go before the Mississippi Gaming Commission with its plans next month instead of in July. Under a best-case scenario, the casino could reopen some time next month.
Treasure Bay would reopen with the smallest gambling operation on the Coast: 100 slot machines and no table games. This autumn, it would expand to 550 slots and 22 table games.
The casino will have two restaurants: the Den with 24-hour food, and "blu," which will be open 18 hours daily and offer menu items that were served in Nemo's and the Captain's Quarters before Hurricane Katrina destroyed those restaurants. There are no plans this year to open a buffet. There will be about 250 hotel rooms. Treasure Bay will initially employ about 200.
The casino will reopen with a new identity and logo and is dropping its pirate motif, said Susan Varnes, chief operating officer of Treasure Bay Gaming & Resorts Inc. The new motif is a navigational compass.
The casino has acquired the property it formerly leased from the ladinich Family Partnership and is negotiating to buy other parcels for a longer-term expansion that will be linked to condominium developments, Varnes said.
Also on Tuesday, the council approved rezoning for another potential casino development on Back Bay. The council voted to rezone 2.65 acres, the former Shemper Seafood site, at the intersection of Crawford Street and Bayview Avenue for casino development. The property surrounding the site had already been rezoned for casinos.
Biloxi Boardwallk LLC, headed by New Orleans developer Ben Favret, has an option to buy the land. Favret is accumulating other nearby parcels for a yet-to-be announced condominium, casino and hotel development.
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