Brief: Deal may clear way for casino

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

The Sun Herald newspaper reported Biloxi businessman Jerry O'Keefe settled a dispute with Deep South Inc. over 1.1 acres O'Keefe owns south of U.S. 90. Deep South claimed it had the right of first refusal to lease the land. Terms were not disclosed.

Earlier, O'Keefe settled a tidelands boundary dispute over the same property with the state by agreeing to pay more than $750,000.

O'Keefe has agreed to sell the land to the partnership planning the Hard Rock. But an executive of Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts, a partner in the Hard Rock, said negotiations with another landowner are stalled and developers could take the project elsewhere.

"A Hard Rock name has drawing power if we put it 5 miles from Steve Wynn," Full House executive Gregg Giuffria told the Sun Herald.

Wynn's Mirage Resorts is building the 1,780-room Beau Rivage.

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