The city council in Gulfport, Mississippi recently voted 6-0 to approve the request of Gulfport Gaming Development to reduce by half the rent it’s paying for property it’s leasing from the city in Gulfport Harbor and two other landowners to build a future casino. Under the terms of the 60-year lease, the developers agreed to pay ,000 a month until the casino is built. Instead, for August and September, they’ll pay ,000. In addition, all the other terms of the contract were extended by four months.
Gulfport Gaming Development partner Robert Lubin, an attorney based in Virginia, asked for the temporary rent decrease to see if the federal government renews the EB-5 Visa program, which allows foreigners to secure permanent U.S. residency by investing a minimum of $500,000 in select projects. Lubin said he would need 120 to 140 investors for the proposed casino. He said he expects the program will be extended beyond the September 30 deadline, but if it’s not he explained he would have to find other ways to finance the project.
Lubin said the casino, opening in 2018, would cost $140-$160 million and include a hotel and other amenities required by the Mississippi Gaming Commission. He compared the costs with the Scarlet Pearl Casino in D’Iberville, which cost $290 million. Lubin, who’s developed other hotels and entertainment projects, said, “I don’t understand for the life of me how they spent so much money.”
Lubin and his partner, Kevin Preston of Magnolia Bluffs Casino-Hotel in Natchez, began paying rent in June.
