LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) – On Tuesday, a lawsuit filed by Long Beach Harbor Resort against the city accuses Mayor Tim Pierce and others of breach of contract related to a proposed casino development.
The suit was filed in Chancery Court by developer Jim Parrish, who owns Parrish’s Restaurant in the Long Beach Harbor. The fight centers on Parrish’s 2010 lease for the restaurant and a 2024 lease that would have covered a casino project.
On February 11, 2010, Parrish signed a lease with Long Beach referred to in court documents as the “Old Lease.” The lawsuit states that this lease provided both an initial term of 25 years and a secondary term for another 25 years; this lease also granted Parrish the option to lease the land in both the primary and secondary terms for five-year periods within each term.
On November 19, 2024, Parrish and Long Beach amended and restated the lease, referred to in documents as the “New Lease,” which canceled the terms of the old lease. This new lease carried an initial term of 40 years and two more optional terms of 25 years each if Parrish wished.
However, the new lease stated that Parrish must acquire land referred to as the “Weigel Property” by March 31, 2025. If he failed to do so, then the terms of the new lease would revert to the old lease. Parrish failed to do this, and in the lawsuit, his party claims it was because Mayor Pierce told at least one casino and a real estate developer based in Orlando, Fla., that his lease had already been terminated.
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Parrish’s party also accuses Mayor Pierce of defiling both the old and new leases by telling Parrish that because he didn’t give a “timely notice of renewal of the Old Lease,” it was terminated without the possibility of negotiating. However, Parrish outlines that because of the terms in both leases, he wasn’t required to give any notice until December 2030 at the earliest.
Parrish and Long Beach Harbor Resort want the judge to stop the mayor and city officials from saying the lease is terminated while putting in writing that the old lease is still valid. They’re also seeking an injunction to put a halt to interference.
WLOX News reached out to both Mayor Pierce and Jim Parrish for Comment. Both of them declined.
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