PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. — The proposed developer of the former Gulfshore Baptist Assembly (GBA) has dropped an offer to purchase the beachfront property, citing a halting regulatory process and the declining economy.
The former 34-acre conference center on St. Louis Bay, which is owned by the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB), was wiped out by a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A committee of Mississippi Baptists subsequently recommended that the facilities not be rebuilt and the property be sold.
NewTrac East LLC, the development company that made an $18 million offer for the property in late 2007, notified the state convention in January of its intentions to withdraw after the Harrison County Planning Commission twice delayed a vote on regulations that would have allowed the development to proceed.
Jim Futral, executive director of the MBCB, reported to the board in a letter, “When the [planning commission] finalizes its Smart Code regulations and if the buyer’s finances fall back into place, he may still be the purchaser and developer of Henderson Point (the land on which GBA was located).”
Before Henderson Point served as Mississippi Baptists’ beachfront assembly, the property was the site of a popular local resort at the turn of the 20th century and then was the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in the World War II era. The board purchased the property in the 1950s at a federal government auction, renamed it Gulfshore Baptist Assembly and utilized the existing structures until Hurricane Camille leveled it in 1969. It was rebuilt in the early 1970s and suffered damage in several hurricanes before it was destroyed again, this time by Hurricane Katrina.
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