The story of UMUSIC and why Biloxi and Mississippi are first

Here, from Robert Lavia, chairman of Dakia UVentures, is the story of UMUSIC Hotels and why Biloxi and Mississippi were chosen as the first out of the gate, with UMUSIC Broadwater Hotel. These are the remarks by Lavia during the announcement of the $1.2 billion, 266-acre resort development at the Broadwater site in West Biloxi. The remarks were made during a presentation on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 at the Biloxi Visitors Center.

Good afternoon friends, thank you all for having me in beautiful Biloxi, Mississippi today

I would also like to thank Governor Tate Reeves, Mayor FoFo Gilich,  the Biloxi City Council, State Representatives, the Harrison County Board of Supervisors, the Mississippi Development Authority and many more for supporting the vision.

Before I get started talking about this exciting project, I want to first recognize what makes us feel so passionate about Mississippi and Biloxi.

“There must be something in the water here”

From the minute you step into Biloxi you feel at home.

The people immediately feel like family, that’s what you guys call “Southern Hospitality”

That warmth, that welcoming feeling is what we WANT both our national and international guests to DISCOVER here. We aspire that they experience that same FEELING and they too “drink from the water” and take that back with them to WHEREVER they came from.

I personally have already felt it with our local partners and all of you here today, because I already feel like family.

People will ask us why did we choose Mississippi to start with this monumental flagship of UMusic hotels, but it really comes down to the rich powerful music that has come from this region.

Mississippi is known all over the world over as the “Birthplace of America’s Music.” After all, Mississippi is credited for producing the “King of Rock and Roll,” the “Father of Country Music,” and the “King of the Blues.” These trailblazers, alongside hundreds of others, have impacted and influenced the music industry like no others in modern history.

Even groups like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Eric Clapton have all been inspired by the music of Mississippi. I would like to say that there might not have even been a British invasion if it wasn’t for Mississippi and the amazing talent that came from here.

These talents include:  Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Sam Cooke “the King of Soul” which inspired these other great legends. Heck, it’s even the home to the likes of Britney Spears, Tina Turner and Jimmy Buffet.  It’s fair to say that y’all have every genre of music covered.

We see Music as s pivotal component in the creative arts. Our intention is to create a world class facility to bring some of the greatest talent both regionally and internationally and to act as a platform for local talent to kick off their careers.

We will also be a creative hub for people under the entertainment & arts industries so they can collaborate and co-create and keep building on the future & legacy of Beautiful Mississippi.

We will also have incubator accelerator programs to support engineers, digital startups in the music industry as well as any other aspiring entrepreneurs looking to create a career in the music & entertainment space.

We’ll be working with the schools and the community for the exploration and discovery of all local talents. From Musicians, songwriters, composers, engineers, video production, and more.

It’s not just a tourist destination, but a producer of new and authentic content.

We’ll also be working with local supply chains, from the fruits and vegetables to the chicken and eggs, even the furniture and artwork so we can drive local job creation outside the resort itself and at the same time representing both the arts and crafts and the culinary soul food of the region. This will allow our guests to properly discover the flavors, the sights and the artistic expression of the state.

Don’t think of us as just a world-class hotel & resort, we are committed to being fully integrated into the region and community so that we become a beating heart that supports all the amazing current and future talent here.

We look to the future as we overcome these difficult times that we find ourselves in today. Just as in the past, we have transcended across the most difficult times in history from World War I to World War II and many other global crises, we believe that as a global community WE SHALL OVERCOME.

And this project in particular becomes a catalyst to reignite the community through the arts and the surrounding businesses of the region.

Of course, we will be prepared by using the most state of the art technologies, not just for entertaining our guests from the Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence to Holograms and much more where everywhere you look in our hotel you are WOWED but also we are also focusing on security and using all of the latest protocols for whatever the next pandemic could be.

WE WILL BE PREPARED.

And before you ask me when do we start this exciting project, let me answer that. Our investor developer partners are committed to start in 2021 and finalize sometime in 2023.

Friends, let me share with you a quick presentation, a visual walk-thru prepared by Brad Friedmutter, one of the best architects for resort design in the world. (Video)

Let me clarify this for everyone, this is only a small percentage of what will be there…

Just like the latest iPhone we will give you just enough so that you are inspired but not everything so we can surprise you.

Unlike anything anyone has ever done in this space before We will be leveraging the largest music company in the world with its over 100 years of rich music history, and over 100 record labels, supported by the incredible and talented people that work there that are all purpose-driven, not to mention the vast amounts of unique intellectual property that we can use to bring to life into this amazing resort.

THIS IS UMUSIC BROADWATER.