Biloxi, Miss. – Hurricane Katrina has turned some of Mary Rose’s neighbors into instant millionaires, but the 70-year-old retiree is still waiting for her turn to cash in on the land rush generated by the Gulf Coast’s booming casino industry.
Rose lives in Point Cadet, a hurricane-battered, blue-collar neighborhood in east Biloxi where casino operators are snatching up tracts of land from property owners whose homes were flattened by the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
A few weeks after Katrina, Mississippi passed a law allowing floating casino barges to move ashore and build up to 800 feet inland – a change designed to jump-start the region’s economic recovery and protect the hotel resorts from future storms.
The move sent property values soaring for some homeowners, but the early land grab by casinos and condominium developers passed over many others who live near the water.
In March, one of Rose’s neighbors across the street sold his property to a casino for more than $1 million, much more than it was worth before Katrina.
Rose, however, says she hasn’t fielded a single offer to buy her land. She believes her property is within 800 feet of the water line, but a map produced by the city suggests otherwise.
“Nobody said life was fair,” said Rose, who lives in a government-issued trailer on a weed- choked lot where her home once stood. “I’m not jealous of anyone.”
Across the street from Rose’s property – and across the invisible 800-foot line – is a nearly vacant lot where Kenny Barhano vich once lived. Isle of Capri, one of the first casinos to reopen after the storm, purchased his 13,600-square-foot property for slightly more than $1 million – a whopping $80 per square foot.
“It made life a little easier,” said Barhanovich, 60, a charter boat captain.
It isn’t getting any easier for trailer-bound homeowners like Rose to find buyers willing to pay top dollar. Industry observers say the casinos’ shopping spree on the coast is in a lull as existing operators wait to see how many new competitors are entering the market.
