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Shopping Centers Today -> April 2001
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GULF SOUTH MEETING DRAWS RECORD CROWD
By Dave Bodamer
BILOXI, Miss. — Considering the role that casino development has played in reviving the Gulf Coast region, the site for this year’s ICSC Gulf South Alliance and Idea Exchange, the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss., could not have been more apt.
The casino and hotel, which have been open for three years, served as a symbolic centerpiece to several presentations at the program that outlined the region’s recent fortunes and addressed how future growth could continue to be fostered.
A crowd of more than 700 people — the largest in the program’s history — attended sessions that addressed development within Mississippi along the coastline, as well as throughout the rest of the region, including Alabama and Louisiana.
The Biloxi area, which will serve as the host for the show every three years as it rotates among New Orleans and Birmingham, Ala., has undergone a remarkable change since gambling was made legal in the state and the first casinos opened in 1993. The success of the casinos — which have boosted tourism in the area and created jobs for local residents — has had a trickle-down effect on other development.
“We’ve had tremendous growth in the past eight years, and that has not stopped,” said D. Brooks Holstein, senior vice president of Stirling Properties, Biloxi, and Gulf South Idea Exchange planning committee chairman. “It’s the first time we’ve ever held the show in Mississippi. The tone of the conference was a little different from years past. We were trying to tell [Mississippi’s] story.”
This year marked the first time that the ICSC Alliance Program — which brings together state and local economic development officials, developers and retailers — and Idea Exchange were held simultaneously. The result was a rise in attendance for both. Alliance registrants rose 60% while Idea Exchange attendance was up 20% over last year’s levels, according to ICSC figures.
One of the conference speakers, Roland Weeks, president and publisher of the local Sun Herald newspaper, warned that the community should move ahead with further growth but proceed cautiously.
“The community has to have a plan and use that plan to manage growth,” Weeks said. “We have to plan and work hard to control our destiny, or it will control us. … If there is no growth, the quality of life suffers. Unbridled growth can be disastrous. Growth at a reasonable pace is absolutely necessary.”
Representatives from public development bodies also took part in the discussions, highlighting the strategies that helped make development in the state so successful. J.C. Burns, the executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, said, “In working with developers in our communities, we will always be there to work with you on a cooperative effort to get the job done. We’re serious about economic development in this state.”
Also highlighted at the program were several regional retailers, including Winn-Dixie, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based supermarket chain that has struggled of late and was forced to close 114 locations in 2000, and New Orleans-based Palace Theaters. George Solomon, president of Palace Theaters, addressed problems that the theater industry is facing.
Easing the minds of some developers, Steve Deriesthal, Winn-Dixie’s regional director of real estate, said the company is not planning any further store closings. The company is planning to open 60 new stores in 14 states in 2001, including 20 in the Gulf South region.
Moreover, the firm is beginning to retrofit existing stores — more than 1,000 in all — to update their look and change the merchandise mix. The company plans to reduce the amount of nonperishable items. It is also experimenting with a new concept store — called Save Rite — that is aimed at dealing in higher volume goods sold at lower prices.
In terms of the theater industry, Solomon explained that there simply are too many screens in the country. Meanwhile, older, slope-floor theaters are no longer profitable, with customers overwhelmingly preferring the newer stadium-style megaplexes. Solomon estimated that the industry needs to reduce by 28,000 screens nationally before it will be healthy again.
For developers, Solomon suggested that older theater spaces could be converted into second-run theaters that serve food or alcohol, into laser-tag type game outlets or call centers.
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