April 26–GULFPORT — The city’s retail corridor is quietly expanding westward with development of 80-acre Anchor Plaza north of Interstate 10 and west of U.S. 49.
Anchor Plaza will have four hotels, with plans for six restaurants and 120,000 square feet of retail, said developer John Tampa, president and CEO of Georgia-based Ascent Hospitality.
“There’s a lot of growth on the Coast, especially after Hurricane Katrina,” Tampa said. “At this time, there are not enough (hotel) rooms in the market.”
I-10 and U.S. 49 is one of the state’s busiest intersections, state Highway Department traffic counts show.
Tampa’s development is along a frontage road his company will build. His first hotel, a Hampton Inn, is set to open in June. A Home2 Suites by Hilton is under construction, with two Marriott-brand developments proposed.
The frontage road will be called Daniel Boulevard, after Tampa’s son. Daniel Boulevard runs off Landon Road, which the city and Harrison County plan to widen between U.S. 49 and 34th Avenue. Eventually, Daniel Boulevard would connect with the extension of 34th Avenue, which runs to Canal Road.
A continuous frontage road between Canal and U.S. 49 would offer direct access between Anchor Plaza and the popular Gulfport Sportsplex and Gulf Islands Water Park.
Gulfport Urban Development Director Greg Pietrangelo said hotel rooms are needed in the area for the busy Sportsplex, which hosts ball tournaments.
Tampa said his company is investing $80 million in Anchor Plaza, with a total potential investment of up to $150 million. He said construction of Daniel Boulevard should start in late 2014.
Combined, he said, Anchor Plaza’s four hotels would offer 400 rooms.
Gulfport has 2,657 hotel rooms, according to the Mississippi Hotel & Lodging As
sociation, which is 76.5 percent of the rooms available before Katrina.
Gulfport is eager for growth in its commercial tax base, particularly because retail and entertainment have recently expanded to the east, along D’Iberville’s I-10 corridor. D’Iberville has helped finance roads and other improvements for development by issuing bonds repaid with sales and property taxes the projects generate.
Gulfport has not issued bonds for Anchor Plaza’s frontage road, which the developer will deed to the city when it is completed.
The city’s sales tax collections are still below pre-recession levels. In addition, its sales tax collections slipped almost 2 percent in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the same period in 2013. In Biloxi, sales tax collections were down 3 percent for the first quarter of 2014, while D’Iberville’s collections increased 2 percent.
Mary Perez, Sun Herald staff writer, contributed to this report.
