D’IBERVILLE, Miss. (WLOX) – What’s long been seen as one of South Mississippi’s prime pieces of real estate is a big step closer to being occupied. An over $400 million resort affiliated with Sports Illustrated is in the works for D’Iberville.
Nearly 80 acres right off the I-10/I10 interchange was supposed to be developed into a Galleria Shopping Center.Now. Plans are now in the works to transform the empty land into a resort centered around an 11 acre pool.
“We call it delivering the Caribbean to Mississippi with white sand beaches, crystal clear waters and a lot of other attractions surround the blue water bay itself,” said Chris Schroeder, Sports Illustrated Resorts CEO.
According to Schroederm the Sports Illustrated Brand is branching out to provide family entertainment with another resort planned for Orlando and one also under construction in the Dominican Republic.
”What we’ve done is taken this iconic brand and are creating an experiential lifestyle resort aiming to provide people with immersive interactive experience as part of their vacation and resort stay,” said Schroeder.
As part of the resort, multiple hotels, restaurants and other entertainment amenities would all be within sight of cars passing by on the interstate.
”I think there’s about 80,000 cars a day that pass by there.”
The city of D’Iberville is already supporting the development by approving a tax break, but Schroeder says other steps still need to be taken before the vision becomes a reality.
”We’re working with the county and state with their tourism incentives to finalize that. It’s something that is important for a project of this size and the investment we’re making into it for that to be finalized. We’re hoping that will all be done this summer and we can be full steam ahead.”
If everything comes together like Schroeder is hoping for, he said ground breaking for the resort could happen around the beginning of 2023 with the opening in late 2024.
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