Mississippi-Rebuilding the Gulf Coast's coastal casino industry in the wake of Hurricane Katrina turned some landowners around here into instant millionaires, but 70-year-old retiree Mary Rose and many of her neighbors - among them, Vietnamese migrants who work the shrimp boats - were left behind by the land rush.
Rose lives in Point Cadet, a hurricane-battered, working-class neighborhood in southeast Biloxi where casino operators snatched up tracts of land from property owners whose homes were flattened by the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
This peninsula has been home to generations of shrimpers and fishermen with roots in eastern Europe and, in recent decades, Vietnam.
A few weeks after Katrina, Mississippi passed a law allowing floating casino barges to move ashore and build up to 800 feet (240 meters) inland - a change designed to jump-start the region's economic recovery and protect the hotel resorts from future storms.
The move sent property values soaring for some homeowners, but the early land grab by casinos and condominium developers passed over many others who live near the water.
In March, one of Rose's neighbors across the street sold his property to a casino for more than $1 million (€780,000), much more than it was worth before Katrina. Rose, however, says she has not had a single offer to buy her land. She believes her property is within 800 feet (240 meters) of the water line, but an interim map produced by the city suggests otherwise. There is no definitive map yet available.
"Nobody said life was fair," said Rose, who lives in a government-issued trailer on a weed-choked lot where her home once stood. "Why would I waste my energies worrying about it? I'm not jealous of anyone. It's not my nature. I wish them all the best."
Across the street from Rose's property is a nearly vacant lot where Kenny Barhanovich once lived. Isle of Capri, one of the first casinos to reopen after the storm, purchased his 13,600-square-foot (1,224-square-meter) property for slightly more than $1 million (€780,000) - a whopping $80 (€62) per square foot.
"It made life a little easier," said Barhanovich, 60, a charter boat captain. "I could retire next year if I wanted to."
It is not getting any easier for trailer-bound homeowners like Rose to find buyers willing to pay top dollar. Industry observers say the casinos' shopping spree on the coast is in a lull.
Nine of the 12 casinos that operated on Mississippi's Gulf Coast before Katrina have reopened. In September, the reopened casinos had nearly 14,000 employees and took in $241 million (€188 million), the most ever generated during that month since gambling was legalized here in 1992, according to the state.
Mayor A.J. Holloway, an outspoken advocate of gaming, has predicted that Biloxi alone will host as many as 22 casinos within a decade.
Paul Girvan, a New Orleans-based managing director of The Innovation Group, a gaming industry consulting firm, said the pace of expansion has been tempered by high construction costs and uncertainty over how many casino operators will enter the Gulf Coast market.
"There have been so many people kicking the tires. The ones who are seriously kicking the tires are waiting until things settle a bit," he said.
Several casinos tower over the devastated landscape now, and "the Point" has become fertile ground for commercial real estate brokers like Raymond Stronsky, a broker for six different casinos.
"This is the hottest real estate in town," he gushed as he drove down a nearly deserted street lined by gutted houses.
Since the storm, Stronsky has helped casinos buy about 45 parcels in Biloxi and neighboring D'Iberville for a total of roughly $30 million (€23 million). Most of that dates back to January, when Landry's Restaurants began closing on 23 parcels in Point Cadet where the company wants to build a Golden Nugget-brand casino.
Many homeowners who turned down offers in the early aftermath of Katrina have found interest in their property rapidly waning. Stronsky blames unrealistic expectations.
"I hate to say it, but greed has actually set in something fierce around here since Katrina," he said. "Land grabbing is over. With the prices right now, nobody can do anything."
That is bad news for Ronald Baker, who has been eager to sell his property ever since Katrina destroyed his uninsured home. Isle of Capri only offered him $20 (€15) per square foot, but he quickly turned it down.
"I don't want to be greedy or nothing, but I want to get what everybody else gets," Baker said. "I'm going to hold on and see what comes up."
Mary Rose is part of a group of about 20 property owners who are teaming up to try to sell their Point Cadet land. Forming a united front, they reason, will make their land more attractive to developers who may be reluctant to negotiate deals individually.
Even though Rose was born and raised here, she is eager to move on.
"I figure I'm good for 10 more years and I want to enjoy them," she said. "There are still some things I want to do with my life, and I need money to do them. But that may not be in the stars for me."
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