BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - The historic beachfront White House Hotel in Biloxi is scheduled to reopen in July.
Barrington Development LLC of Ridgeland bought the property in 2013 from White House Properties, held by the Love family for decades.
The landmark hotel had sat vacant and dilapidated on the beach front for 24 years, and ended up on the city’s blighted properties list. It also was severely damaged in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It is located along U.S. Highway 90 near Keesler Air Force Base.
The Sun Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1ip9AGu ) Jerry Creel, community development director, told the city council that the developer is already talking about an expansion.
The restoration plan included renovating the exterior of the building, using as much of the salvaged materials as possible; landscaping the property, including preserving the oak trees; and installing a fence around the site that will match the time period.
The White House Hotel was named after long-time owner Walter A. White, a Mississippi lawyer who moved to the Gulf Coast in 1890 and would later become a judge.
The White family opened the property as a boarding house in 1899. Additions to the original structure were built in 1927 and 1929.
The hotel’s main property was originally the site of the successful Gorenflo Oyster Company, which was destroyed in an 1893 hurricane.
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Information from: The Sun Herald, https://www.sunherald.com
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