An experienced developer from the Jackson area has optioned almost seven acres that anchor the western entrance to Ocean Springs along Front Beach Drive and Porter Avenue for a potential condominium development, but plans are preliminary.
Developer Steve Bryan confirmed that his company, Ridgeland-based Mid South Companies LLC, has signed an option to buy the property, owned by Naomi Enterprises L.P. But Mid South is completing due diligence to determine whether the project is feasible. Bryan said he has met with the city but no formal plans have been presented, despite a copy of a proposal leaked on Facebook.
“We haven’t even named it,” said Bryan, president and CEO of Mid South in Ridgeland. “It’s in its infancy. We’re just nowhere near having this thing ready.”
The company has developed houses, condomiums, apartments, commercial properties and office buildings in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
The Ocean Springs property, listed at $7 million by owner Naomi Enterprises LP, is special to residents. The estate property has sat undeveloped for decades. Its canopy of trees rises to greet motorists as they approach from the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge and also insulates the residential beachfront from traffic and commercial activity.
While the wooded acreage anchors the northwest side of Front Beach Drive, the Ocean Springs Yacht Club has for decades occupied the southwest corner. The Yacht Club even parks its boats on a beachfront strip Naomi Enterprises owns across the road from its main parcel, where the Yacht Club also mows a strip of grass it sometimes uses for event parking, Commodore Carroll Kovacevich said.
Bryan is amenable to donating a small strip on the beach where the yacht club could continue to park boats, Kovacevich said, although not nearly as many as it can now fit on the Naomi Enterprises property. Boats can be launched from the beach for racing and summer sailing camps.
“It’s pretty much the heart and soul of our sailing program,” Kovacevich said.
Condominium plans released prematurely
The Naomi Enterprises property is listed with Realtor Brad Jay of Real Broker LLC in Pascagoula.
“It’s a very special piece of property,” he said. He said many of the trees on the property are invasive species, although it also features some majestic Live oaks. Many of the oaks, Jay said, would be preserved, although some would have to be removed for development.
He had thought some residents might be interested in pooling resources to buy the property for preservation, but that hasn’t happened. He said interest has been high among investors, but a “fear factor” also is associated with the property
“They’re afraid to touch it because they know that the residents will do everything in their power to shut it down,” Jay said. Preliminary condominium development plans were recently posted on two popular community Facebook pages.
“I’m very surprised to see the plans are out there and I’m very disappointed,” Jay said. “Putting things out there prematurely doesn’t do anybody any justice.”
Ocean Springs development inevitable, mayor says
The preliminary plans show development in two phases, with each phase taking about 18 months. A total of 198 units and a marina are included in the plans.
But Bryan said no numbers have been finalized and that they change constantly. At one time, he said, Mid South was considering more than 200 condos for the property.
He hopes the project will work on the Ocean Springs waterfront.
“I am constantly looking for water-oriented development sites,” Bryan said. “We just know that the city of Ocean Spring is well thought of nationally, as well as regionally.”
Mayor Kenny Holloway, who also sells real estate, said he hasn’t been actively seeking out developers. Instead, developers are approaching the city, which has hit more than one national list as a great place to visit or live.
“The capital is coming to Ocean Springs,” Holloway said a banker told him. The mayor added, “We can sit back and let it happen willy nilly or we can get ahead of it and direct how we want it to develop.”
The Naomi Enterprises property is commercial, he said, which opens it for many uses. Condominiums, he said, wouldn’t be so bad. City ordinances would allow six-story buildings, or 75 feet in height.
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