The mayor of Biloxi aired out some frustration on Wednesday over the Margaritaville Casino project that’s sat idle for two years:

“I think Margaritaville is through — at that location,” Holloway said during Breakfast with the Mayor, sponsored by the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce at the Donal Snyder Community Center.

Last week, he talked with John Payne, the central division president of Harrah’s Entertainment, who told him the company is not in negotiations with any investors, Holloway said.

The mayor said he is frustrated when he reads that Harrah’s is buying properties when the project in Biloxi has remained idle since 2008.

Asked what’s going to happen to the metal skeleton on the site, Holloway said Harrah’s would “probably knock it down. I don’t know what else they can do with it.”

LuAnn Pappas, vice president of marketing and non-gaming operations at Harrah’s Grand Biloxi Casino, said that isn’t planned.

“Our position on that property remains the same,” she said. “We continue to maintain that site as we evaluate options.”

First announced in 2007, original plans called for a $700 million resort with 798 rooms, a full-service spa, a pool/deck area with cabanas, bar and tropical landscaping, all on 46 acres of land south of U. S. Highway 90 (view artists rendering).

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Pensacola, Florida officially opens its doors today at 4 pm, according to WINK News. The hotel hosted an open house on Sunday and reportedly had a very large turnout.

“It makes a world of difference to us,” says a nearby restaurant owner. “For this establishment to be as beautiful as it is, and open at the time it does, it’s inspirational to me and my fellow businessmen who’ve been here for years and years, that we will survive, we will make it. We’ve got confidence that some of the big wigs and big powers are with us.”

With so much of Florida’s economy based on tourism, the hotel also is a sweet song to Governor Charlie Crist.

“Jimmy Buffett’s a great Floridian, he cares a lot about our state, clearly cares a lot about our environment. But his entrepreneurial spirit cannot be put down, no matter what. And that encourages a lot of people,” Crist said.

Go to WINK News to watch a 3 minute video story on the open house. It contains some great shots of both the interior and exterior of the hotel.

Visit www.margaritavillehotel.com for more info.

Jimmy Buffett’s latest Margaritaville Cafe, located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, opens its doors today at 11:00 am!

The Fallsview Boulevard location features a full stage, and Leanne Leach, sales and marketing manager for the restaurant, said there will be bands playing every night during the summer. In addition to the live entertainment, there will be stilt walkers making their way through the restaurant to help create a fun island-escapist atmosphere.

Leach said there’s one special guest who is known to pop into the restaurant franchise locations at will.

“With Margaritaville, you never know when Jimmy’s going to stop by,” she said, speaking of the music-man himself. “He’s been known to just pop into the restaurants if he’s in the area and there’s never a lot of notice. Sometimes, he’ll play intimate shows, other times he just stops by to say hi.”

Leach said if the restaurants know in advance that Buffett is coming, they try to sneak the information out to the public, but most of the time he just shows up on a whim.

“It’s a real treat for the locals though,” she said with a laugh.

The family-friendly restaurant is situated right on the corner of Fallsview Boulevard and Murray Street, just steps away from the falls. Margaritaville is 14,000 square feet in size with two indoor levels and four outdoor patios.

Visit the official site here. If you stop in, drop a comment and let us know what you think of the place.

An article in the Pensacola Business Journal discusses the new Margaritaville Beach Hotel in the Florida panhandle, plus plans for the future:

The much-anticipated opening of Jimmy Buffett’s first Margaritaville Beach Hotel is set for the first of July, said Jim Wiseman, the singer-songwriter’s development partner.

The Pensacola Beach Gulf-front hotel, developed by Marilyn Hess’ Little Sabine Inc., plans to start taking reservations June 17.

“July 1 looks good for an opening,” Wiseman said. “We want to make sure we’re open for July 4 weekend.”

The $50 million, 162-room hotel is the first of three planned for the franchise, Wiseman said.

Wiseman is working on development of a second Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and the third planned for Hollywood in South Florida.

Buffett’s original plans were to open the first hotel in Hollywood, but changed his mind after a rapid-fire round of negotiations with Hess this spring.

You can request a reservation now for the Pensacola hotel here.

After a deal fell apart in mid-2009, it appears Coastal Development and Trump Entertainment are back at the negotiating table over the sale of the Trump Marina Casino in Atlantic City. From CasinoGamingStock.net:

Previous negotiations fell apart in 2008 with both parties accusing the other of breach of contract, which resulted in a lawsuit over $17 million that Coastal paid as a deposit on the original sale.

Under terms of the new purchase agreement, both parties agreed to drop all pending litigation upon closing.

Coastal Marina will purchase the 27 story hotel, 80,000 square feet of gaming space and 60,000 square feet of convention space, nightclub, three players clubs, four retail outlets, six restaurants, cocktail lounge and health spa for $316 million.

Richard Fields, chairman of Coastal Marina said that the casino hotel will be re-branded and refurbished to fit within their “Margaritaville” brand.

“Together with Jimmy Buffet’s team at Margaritaville, our plans are to create an exciting new property that we believe will tap its full potential and make it one of the most successful destination gaming resorts in Atlantic City,” Fields said.

“They are buying a wonderful building in a great location. It has been an important part of our company with a loyal customer base and a dedicated team.” responded Trump.