City targets more blighted buildings for demolition

BILOXI — Blighted buildings are coming down in Biloxi.

The Sun Herald reports the city council approved inspections yesterday of six more blighted buildings, including the White House Hotel.

Jerry Creel, community development director, says his department wants the owners of the White House to remove the steel beams on the west side of the hotel or build a façade around it.

Six and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, legislation has helped Biloxi spur property owners to do something with their boarded-up properties.

Creel says Melvin’s Plumbing, the old Buddy Gunn building used by the Catholic Diocese and the movie theater on Beach Boulevard are being torn down. The Hancock Bank building on Beach Boulevard in East Biloxi will be demolished the week after Mardi Gras.