Biloxi casino finally gets site approval, the first step toward a new resort
The Mississippi Gaming Commission on Thursday granted Biloxi Capital's request for a casino site, said Biloxi attorney Michael Cavanaugh, who represented the developers.
Before construction can begin, the developers must return to the Gaming Commission with documents to show they have the financial backing to meet the requirements for a casino on the Gulf Coast, and show they have money to complete and open the resorts.
The latest proposal from Danny Conwill, who has worked for nearly two decades to get a casino project built on the Tivoli site, was for:
▪ 1,300-room hotel
▪ 100,000-square-foot casino
▪ 2,000 slot machines
▪ 75 table games
▪ Sports book
▪ A convention space and other amenities also have been proposed.
Second casino also has approval
The Gaming Commission in December granted site approval to the Tullis Gardens casino in east Biloxi, a few blocks from the Biloxi Capital site, on the condition that legal matters can be settled with the Secretary of State over tidelands issues.
Luke Lenzi, the attorney and CEO of the Tullis Gardens casino, said it could take years to get the lawsuit settled.
'At this rate, we're at least three years out from clearing the litigation to appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court and millions of dollars in legal expenses,' he said. 'There can be no real significant development on the Coast in that type of environment. The city and all the parties need to come together and work together for the betterment of One Coast.'
The resort is proposed to have a 300 room hotel, 53,280 square foot casino floor, 909 slot machines, 35 table games, a sports book and restaurants other amenities.
Years to site approval
Biloxi Capital and Conwill purchased the Tivoli site after Hurricane Katrina for $40 million. The 32-acre property is bordered by Holley Street on the west, Biloxi Yacht Club on the east, Howard Avenue on the north, and U.S. 90 and the Mississippi Sound on the south.
Site approval for the Tivoli/Biloxi Capital casino was twice tabled, most recently in January, when the Gaming Commission moved the monthly meeting to Biloxi from Jackson to allow comment from local government officials and casino operators.
The project also faced legal challenges from the secretary of state over the plan to lease a pier to provide the required connection from the water to the casino floor.
The waterfront in that area of Biloxi was zoned for casinos in 2007 by the Biloxi City Council, but site approval for this casino was never secured until Thursday. This same property, west of the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, was proposed in 2007 as a $1 billion Tivoli Casino.
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Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
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24-07-2025
New Orleans trash collectors litigate over removing foul French Quarter odors
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Washington Post
24-07-2025
- Washington Post
New Orleans trash collectors litigate over removing foul French Quarter odors
NEW ORLEANS — The stench of trash and residue of bad decisions in one of America's favorite party hotspots is being scrubbed away, thanks to a change in garbage collectors that New Orleans residents say has transformed the French Quarter. 'The Quarter has never been this clean,' said Jill Wagner. She became inured during her three decades living along Bourbon Street to rat-infested, overflowing garbage cans and sidewalks stained with puke, urine and booze. Now, with a zesty lemon fragrance sprayed across the streets daily, 'it smells like Disney World.' A chorus of residents and business owners is heaping praise on the city's so-called 'Trash King,' Sidney Torres IV, and his company, IV Waste, for cracking the code to sanitary success. The district has gleamed since Torres was given an emergency year-long contract last December to handle its waste management, they say. Tourists stumbling out of a Bourbon Street bar around sunrise on any given day can find IV Waste employees power-washing sidewalks, scooping up cigarette butts and spritzing streets with his patented 'lemon fresh' cleaning formula. But a judge on Wednesday allowed Mayor LaToya Cantrell to replace IV Waste at the end of July, over the objections of the city council. With a local management district insisting on Torres, this raises the possibility of rival collectors competing for the French Quarter's garbage. 'Just because they like the other guy, that is not enough,' the mayor's attorney Charles Rice told the judge, and he said there's 'no reason' to believe a different contractor would do worse. A state appeals court is scheduled to review in August who will ultimately earn tens of millions of dollars managing the French Quarter's trash in 2026 and beyond. At stake is the attractiveness of some of the most important city blocks in the country, residents say — New Orleans reports that more than 19 million visitors spent a collective $10 billion last year, and most visited the historic French Quarter. In a city plagued by dysfunction including constant flooding, treacherous potholes and a massive jailbreak , Torres' company has become a point of civic pride. The quarter is filled with signs in support of IV Waste. 'It's not even in the same solar system -- the service they provide versus what others provide,' said Danny Conwill, who owns an oyster bar off Bourbon Street and is suing the mayor to keep IV Waste. He recalls other trash collectors leaving 'noxious garbage juices' and heaps of shrimp heads and oyster shells scattered about, leading to rank summer odors bad for business. Torres, a real estate developer who began as a personal assistant to Lenny Kravitz and once hosted Justin Bieber's 20th birthday party at his Bahamas resort, became a local celebrity and reality TV star after launching a trash company to clean up the city after Hurricane Katrina. He then sold it and waited out a non-compete clause before rebuilding his trash empire with IV Waste. After a competitive bidding process last year, the city began negotiating a $73 million contract with another local firm, Henry Consulting, to clean the French Quarter for at least the next five years. But before the deal was finalized, council members grew alarmed that the company did not seem to have the necessary equipment or subcontracts in place as Super Bowl LIX and the annual Mardi Gras celebrations loomed. IV Waste then won an emergency contract to clean the French Quarter through 2025, and Henry Consulting sued, accusing the city of failing to uphold a valid contract. The metastasizing litigation now pits an outgoing mayor with waning popularity against a feisty city council and state officials including the attorney general, with both sides slinging accusations of cronyism. Cantrell was elected in 2017 with the endorsement of Henry Consulting founder Troy Henry. In April, Cantrell announced she was terminating the IV Waste contract early, and that Henry's firm would take over. This new no-bid contract would cost $2.1 million more, with inferior results, sanitation director Matt Torri told the city council on Monday. He and other officials said Henry Consulting still doesn't seem ready for the job. Henry Consulting declined to comment to The Associated Press. Cantrell's office told The AP that the city 'remains committed to working with all parties to provide sanitation services to the French Quarter.' Meanwhile, a new Louisiana law empowers the management district to appoint its own garbage collector, and the residents and business owners who run this state agency selected IV Waste. Torres said his company will keep taking out the trash, even if it means rivals go toe-to-toe on Bourbon Street. 'We're going to do our job, and they can watch and learn,' Torres said. 'The French Quarter can rest assured that we're going to continue to clean.' ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
