The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center (228.594.3700; www.mscoastcoliseum.com) in Biloxi plans to finish a major makeover in October. The project includes a renovation and expansion that will bring its total square footage to 400,000.
A Four Points by Sheraton (228.374.9717; www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints) is slated to open in Biloxi in June with 195 rooms, most with views over the Gulf, and 1,500 square feet of meeting space.
Three recent additions to the Gulf Coast’s hotel scene are clustered near the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The Hilton Garden Inn Gulfport (228.863.4996; www.hilton gardeninn.com) offers 137 high-tech rooms and nearly 2,000 square feet of meeting space. The Residence Inn Gulfport/Biloxi (228.867.1722; www.residenceinn.com) features 108 rooms equipped with kitchens and work areas for longer stays. There is also a 460-square-foot meeting room. The Holiday Inn Gulfport Airport (228.679.1700; www.holidayinn.com) offers 143 high-rise rooms and over 2,000 square feet of function space.
A unique off-site venue rich in African-American history recently reopened in Bay St. Louis. 100 Men Hall (228.383.5766) was built in the 1930s and served as a hot spot for the local African-American community. Muddy Waters, Fats Domino, James Brown and Ray Charles all performed beneath its pressed tin roof. Painstakingly restored after Katrina with a gallery of historic photos, local artwork and a stage, the building is back up and ready to boogie. The 3,500-square-foot piece of history is perfect for intimate receptions.
George Ohr, better known as the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” will soon have a new home for his prodigious body of work fittingly designed by a modern “madman”—architect Frank Gehry. The George Ohr Gallery Pavilion at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (228.374.5547; www.georgeohr.org) features brushed-steel “pods” designed by Gehry as the centerpiece of the museum’s new campus. Though construction on the campus had begun in 2004, Katrina wiped it out. The project broke ground again in 2008, and the first three buildings—a gallery, welcome center and exhibition hall—are slated for completion by early 2011. In the meantime, the pods, located among a clutch of live oaks, serve as a magical setting for small receptions and other events.
