The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi moved a step closer today to beginning construction on a new 12-story hotel tower.
The City Council OK’d a seven-year tax incentive for the new hotel, meaning that Hard Rock will pay no additional city property taxes on the expansion.
“This is what’s needed in this day and age to get things moving,” Mayor A.J. Holloway said. “What the city will be getting out of this is $32.5 million in new construction, the creation of 250 construction jobs, 90 permanent jobs, additional gaming and sales taxes, and 154 first-class hotel rooms at a premier location.”
Holloway noted that the Hard Rock’s seven-year city property tax exemption was limited to the expansion, and did not include school taxes.
Casino executives said construction would take 14 to 16 months, and work would begin after financing is finalized. No firm date has been announced.
“We have a lot of good things going on right now in Biloxi,” the mayor said. “As we approach the 20-year anniversary of gaming, we’ve recently seen $53 million in improvements at the Palace, Boyd’s purchase of the IP, Margaritaville joined the Biloxi lineup, the Golden Nugget is getting closer to moving forward at Point Cadet, sales tax collections passed the million-dollar mark for the first time in years, new businesses are cropping up throughout the city, and we’re moving forward on our massive infrastructure work.”
Virtual tour; To see today’s presentation at the meeting of the Biloxi City Council, click here.
Council meeting photos: To see photos from the City Council meeting this afternoon, click here.
