The city’s Finance Division, which has been housed since Hurricane Katrina in the Old Biloxi Public Library across from the Half Shell Restaurant on Lameuse Street, will be moving to the third floor of the U.S. Post Office on Main Street under a plan Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich is asking the City Council to approve Tuesday.
If approved, the agreement would allow the city to move forward with a lease the council approved last month to allow the Le Beignet shop and café to move to the second floor of the library, with plans for a steakhouse on the bottom floor of the historic structure. The plan will also have start-up costs: a sprinkler system to be installed at the library and work stations for the Post Office space.
Gilich has wanted to see the Old Biloxi Public Library have a more public use and return to the tax rolls since he became mayor two years ago. The plan, if approved, would be for the Finance Division to move to the Post Office for the first of the month and the beignet shop to begin operating in the library in mid-November.
“What we’re doing is creating a better use for the Old Biloxi Public Library, so the public can enjoy it, and creating about two dozen private-sector jobs in the process,” the mayor said. “As far as the two leases, the city will be leasing the old library for the restaurants at the appraised market value of about $20 a square foot, while we’ll be paying about $9 a square foot over at the Post Office.”
See photos of the Old Biloxi Public Library
See the approved lease for the old Biloxi Public Library
See the proposed lease with U.S. Postal Service
