Mixed-Use Community Planned

OCEAN SPRINGS -- The owners of 612 acres on the corner of Front Beach Drive and Porter Avenue want to build what could be the first mixed-used community in Jackson County. "It would be a destination resort type of community," said Joe Cloyd, a representative IDS Real Estate Group. "It will be a gateway building in Ocean Springs." The Los Angles, Calif.-based company wants to build 120 multi-family units and 19,000-square-feet of commercial space. The community will be called The Admiralty. The property is bordered by Porter Avenue, Front Beach Drive, Hillandale Avenue and Cleveland Avenue, and is currently vacant. A project like this is going to take months of engineering work," said Cloyd.

The real estate company has owned the property for about two years, and has redesigned what they want on the space three times. The exact cost for the project is unknown said Cloyd, but he said the company plans to spend several million dollars.

Special exemptions and variances must be obtained before the project can move forward, and it will go before the Board of Aldermen at Tuesday's meeting. The planning commission approved the project with only one descending vote at its Sept. 11 meeting.

The development would need a ten percent parking variance because important trees on the site are preserved, street parking is discouraged on Front Beach Drive and Hillandale Avenue and parking will be shared between commercial and residential uses, said the planning commissions report.

"Live Oaks are a protected species in Ocean Springs, and there are 12 large and spectacular Live Oaks on the property," said David Minkler, the city's arborist. "It will be inherent that the applicants protect and accommodate the trees in their design, building and construction."

The developers are required to have a professional arborist oversee all construction to keep the trees from accidentally being damaged. Two of the trees may have to be relocated.

"I think the project will be a challenge, that's why I've required they do it under an arborist supervision," said Minkler. "These trees are very important to the citizens of Ocean Springs."

The project will be the first built under the city's new Waterview Preservation ordinance. It can not exceed fifty feet in height.