Beau Rivage (Mississippi)

Beau Rivage
Address	875 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, Mississippi 39530
Opening date	March 18, 1999 (Reopened August 29, 2006)
Theme	Miami
No. of rooms	1,740
Total gaming space	72,000 sq ft (6,700 m2)
Permanent shows	Kenny G Smokey Robinson
Signature attractions	Eight75 Coast Nightclub
Notable restaurants	BR Prime Memphis Q
Casino type	Barge
Owner	MGM Resorts International
Years renovated	2006
Website	Beau Rivage Biloxi Website

Beau Rivage is a waterfront casino resort in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International. Beau Rivage was rebuilt and re-opened in 2006, a year after Hurricane Katrina. The Beau Rivage hotel is the tallest building in Mississippi. The term 'Beau Rivage' is French for 'beautiful shore'.

Beau Rivage opened its 1,740-room hotel/casino in March 1999. At that time of its opening, it was the largest hotel/casino in the United States outside of Nevada. The casino was located on a series of floating barges as required by local law confining all casinos to mobile marine vessels at the time of the resort's construction. The hotel, restaurants, parking garage and associated facilities were constructed on land.

The Beau Rivage, as seen in April 2002

Beau Rivage has won every major local, regional and state award available for outstanding community service including the Governor's Cup Award for Outstanding Large Business on July 10, 2003.

The name of Beau Rivage was originally meant for the Bellagio casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, however, developer Steve Wynn of Mirage Resorts changed Beau Rivage into Bellagio, and reserved this name for his new waterfront casino in Biloxi.

Beau Rivage restaurants include: BR Prime Steakhouse, Jia Pan-Asian Cuisine, Memphis Q Smokehouse & Barbecue, Coast (seafood and wood-fired pizzas), The Beau Rivage Buffet, Terrace Cafe (24-hour casual dining), Roasted Bean Coffee Bistro, Snacks (fast food), and Scoops Ice Cream. Both BR Prime and Jia have earned the 4 star rating from AAA and Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence.The AAA Four Diamond Beau Rivage is the number one casino resort visited in Mississippi.

Hurricane Katrina

Beau Rivage was seriously damaged by the 30 ft (9.1 m) storm surge caused by Hurricane Katrina, and was rebuilt by W.G. Yates & Sons Construction (the contractor that originally built it)and more than 50 subcontractors. Beau Rivage Resort & Casino re-opened its entire resort August 29, 2006 — the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Although the hotel tower survived relatively unscathed, the casino barge was nearly destroyed and the first three floors of the hotel were washed out. Beau Rivage was one of the few still recognizable buildings remaining on Biloxi's coast.

In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina and in the wake of the catastrophic damage to the coast's casinos in the hurricane, the Mississippi state legislature changed its laws regarding the placement of casinos. Instead of having to be on barges on the water, casinos may now be built on land as long as they are within 800 feet (240 m) of the shore.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2006, the resort opened a new Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course Fallen Oak.

2009 Possible Sale

Starting on April 6, 2009 news reports began to surface that Beau Rivage's parent company MGM Mirage hired investment firm Morgan Stanley to assist the company in finding possible buyers for the Biloxi property and its sister the MGM Grand in Detroit, Michigan. The Beau Rivage and MGM Grand Detroit are considered to be MGM Mirage's top performing properties and if sold could fetch a total of $1–$2 billion dollars which then would be used to lower MGM Mirage's debt load. ^[1][2]

See also

• List of tallest buildings by U.S. state

Notes

1. ^ MGM Mirage Said to Hire Morgan Stanley to Evaluate Casino Bids (bloomberg.com)
2. ^ With Casino Stocks, Traders Know When to Fold 'Em (Wall Street Journal)

External links

• Beau Rivage's Website
• Video of Hurricane Katrina taken from the Beau Rivage parking garage on Google Video
• Guest reviews of Beau Rivage on About.com
• W.G. Yates & Sons Construction

Coordinates: 30°23′33″N 88°53′31″W / 30.3924134°N 88.8919151°W / 30.3924134; -88.8919151