New Housing on the Horizon: Community to Have 8,000 Homes
By Priscilla Frulla, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Jan. 17–WIGGINS — Plans for a 5,000-acre master planned community were revealed Tuesday by Stone County supervisors, developers, former executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority Leland Speed and Charlie Walker from Gov. Haley Barbour’s office.
“This is not a typical deal where people announce projects but no building is going on,” said developer Robert Windham. “This is a reality. We are moving dirt as we speak.”
The development will have 8,000 single-family homes in a wide range of sizes and prices in 12 distinct villages. A town center will have retail and professional spaces. Multifamily areas will also be designated for apartments and townhomes.
The Horizon community will adjoin U.S. 49 in McHenry north of the Perkinston campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Windham said the project could be the largest housing development in the country.
He said costs for the parcels of land purchased for Horizon exceed $20 million. It will cost developers another $150 million to install the infrastructure, including building a sewage treatment facility.
Lots may be ready for builders to begin construction as early as April. Windham said a multifamily building near the college will be one of the first projects to be built.
Developers hope to attract residents from as far away as Pascagoula and Hattiesburg.
Once Mississippi 67 is completed, said Windham, “it will only be a 15-minute ride to Biloxi.”
The project has been in the works since shortly after Hurricane Katrina but stalled due to concerns supervisors had about the strain such a large development would place on county resources.
“It was a very nervous time for us,” said board president Duncan Hatten. “But, every time we talked to them, the pot got a little sweeter.”
Developers agreed to build, at no cost to the county, a sheriff’s office, a fire station and a town hall for county offices. Windham said Horizon will also pay up to $50 million to assist with the building of two schools as they are needed.
Windham owns Pensacola-based The Windham Company and is the former owner of the Royal d’Iberville hotel in Biloxi, now Treasure Bay, and the Gulf Hills Resort and Country Club in Ocean Springs.
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Horizon highlights
Acres: 5,000.
8,000 single-family homes, which could range from $125,000 up to estate houses worth more than $300,000.
Environment: four lakes stocked for fishing with one large enough for boating and skiing, sports fields, walking trails, biking trails, parks, wetlands.
Commercial: retail and professional spaces, grocery/drugstore.
Developer: Mississippi Investors VI LLC, managed by Mississippi Capital Investments VI of Miramar Beach, Fla. Principal: Robert Windham of Pensacola
Architects: Morris Architects of Orlando and Gulfport.
Engineers: Harris & Heinrich of Gulfport.To see more sites, plans and renderings for Horizon, go to sunherald.com
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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