Gilley says Country Crossing facing crossroads
Published: January 3, 2009
Updated: January 4, 2009
Investors have made developer Ronnie Gilley an offer he wants to refuse – to move Country Crossing to casino-friendly Mississippi.
Gilley says he’s committed to keeping the project in Houston County, but investors are nervous about a recent anti-gambling task force created by Gov. Bob Riley.
“We’re 100 percent committed to Houston County,” Gilley said in an exclusive interview with the Eagle Saturday. “There’s no intent of moving the project.”
However, Gilley is leaving his options out there on the table since Riley called a press conference last Monday to announce the creation of an anti-gambling task force, as a response to a recent increase in bingo halls which house casino-like electronic slot machines that are forbidden under state law.
Many entertainment establishments assert their machines are legal under local charity bingo amendments, but the state Supreme Court ruled two years ago that slot machines and slot-like machines are banned by the state Constitution. Questions have arisen regarding the legality of electronic bingo machines and whether local amendments that allow paper bingo apply to electronic bingo. Electronic bingo differs from electronic slot machines in that bingo players compete against one another, where slots players compete against the house.
Some more recent Country Crossing investors reacted to Riley’s announcement by pulling their support, but Gilley said the initial investors remain committed to do the project – regardless of where it has to go.
“I’ve got partners who are furious (with the governor’s action),” he said. “Nothing more could have been done before we started (this project), to clarify state law on bingo. The Attorney Generals’ opinions are clear. We are operating within the parameters of what the Constitution allows.”
The Mississippi offer came from gaming and real estate investor Rick Carter, a Dothan native. Carter said he had considered investing in the Country Crossing project in Dothan, but reconsidered after Riley’s announcement of the task force.
“He’s (Riley) destroying the economic development of Dothan, Alabama, and that’s a sad thing,“ Carter said.
Carter said he has offered to let Gilley develop Country Crossing on property he owns adjacent to a casino in Mississippi or on other property in the state. Gilley identified the casino as the Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport.
Gilley has said he is confident in the legality of electronic bingo in Houston County, and he would like clarification of the governor’s intent.
“If his (Riley’s) intention is to close illegal operations in the state of Alabama –- great,“ Gilley said. “There’s an abundance of illegal operations now. If his intent is to close down electronic bingo, there’s plenty of court cases declaring electronic bingo legal.“
Gilley has already made a major commitment to bringing Country Crossing to Houston County. In October, he bought 375 acres off Highway 231 South at a price of $19.84 million, or about $53,000 per acre.
He estimated the current investment in the project is around $45 million, and said George Jones, a recent Kennedy Center honoree, is committed to building a $9 million Possum Holler dinner theatre.
“What the governor has done, it’s like someone saying they are going to put in a $70 million resort hotel and halfway into construction, the governor says resort hotels are illegal. People may think that’s not a good comparison, but comparing bingo and crystal meth is not a good comparison either.”
After Gilley announced the project last February, a group of loca ministers, mainly Baptist, and area businessmen, came out in opposition to the electronic bingo component, saying it would bring crime and addiction into the community. A number of those business interests are staunch Republicans and considered Riley supporters who usually push for more economic development in the state.
The Country Crossing project is primarily an entertainment venue, but Gilley said the only way the project is doable financially is alongside a funding mechanism like electronic charitable bingo.
“The reality of it is that the entertainment component of it is going to suffer for three to five years,“ Gilley said. “After three to five years, entertainment will outpace the bingo. You have to have a build-up stage. No one’s going to speculate on entertainment in the existing environment.“
The Country Crossing project has been touted as a potential economic powerhouse for Houston County that could provide more than 1,000 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue and donations to charity from bingo proceeds. Gilley has pledged a minimum of $2 million in bingo proceeds will go to charities each year.
Gilley said it will go – somewhere.
“The people in Mississippi have followed this project from the beginning. This project would work in the Panhandle of Florida where there has been an offer to give us land. It would work on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi,” he said.
Gilley said he has also been contacted by gambling interests in south Florida and in Kansas City, regarding locating Country Crossing there.
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Reader Reactions
Can you not read???
From the article:
“As an official endorser of the development, Jackson will appear to personally unveil the site plans for the luxury residential, family-oriented development at the official groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Thursday, November 30, beginning at 2:00PM.“
It even mentions the word NEIGHBORHOOD several times! There are no condos or “neighboorhood” aspects to Country Crossing… IT IS A THEME PARK slash ENTERTAINMENT VENUE!!! For a “residential” project to be abandoned during surpressed economic times is nothing unheard of in the past few months!
only know what I read from supposedly reputable sources…
condo’s…retail shops…sounds like a “development” to me
http://www.thatscountry.com/am2/publish/Country_News_2/002901.shtml
Daphne…
You are an idiot… that is real estate not commercial development! A one month set back is not bad especially when it comes to real estate projects! EVEN MORE… Nobody in their right mind would try investing in a real estate market with the economy IN REAL ESTATE as low as it is… It is on par with investing in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac!
Do not post on here anymore unless you bring a valuable argument!
to honeybunches…
“Don’t look down on those in what you seem to view as menial, low jobs “
those are YOUR words…not mine…I never said menial, or low or even eluded to it. I just know that service industry jobs are where most everyone starts out….it’s not where the majority of people desire to retire from.
check out this link and look at Alan Jacksons last adventure with development… a picture is worth a thousand words.
http://www.emeraldcoastphotoseast.com/mycapture/photos/Album.aspx?EventID=293891&CategoryID=30406
I tell you all what why don’t we help Mr. Gilley, let us put our money where our mouths are. You say well I don’t have investment money. A group of people can get together with what they have and then contact Mr. Gilley and see what there bare minium would be. It has to in writing for this to be a corporate business venture.
Mr. Gilley, I only know what friend of mine in Enterprise says and his family like yours has been in business there for decades. There fore my company will be in contact with yours in the am we can handle up to $30,000,000.00 investment with $10,000,000.00 to be delivered as soon as the paperwork is done.
I lost some $2.2 million in New York investment scheme and I believe yours to be a good investment.
to all of the naysayers:
Once this entertainment complex is built, how do you think it will be supplied? Industry… How do you think it will be maintained? Industry…
What is even funnier is the fact Dothan doesn’t have BIG industry due to the fact we don’t have an interstate! With the increased tourism to Country Crossing, guess what idea WILL be expedited? Interstate… With an interstate, guess what will come next? More industry!!! Never again will Dothan be looked over when a car manufacturer or major distributor ONLY builds near an interstate.
With the upbringing of more industry, commercial districts, and tourism… now we get an international airport (which has already been discussed once the project has reached completion). International airports bring large amount of industry and commercial developments as well as creating 1000s of jobs!
This development will inadvertently create a possible 10,000 jobs in the next 10 years! Which brings you to the 3rd stage of a growing city… Residential! With a population of approx 65000 and unemployment of 6%, we have 3900 people without jobs (which includes disabled and those unable to work). So where are we going to find the other “hypothetical” 6100 people? They move to Dothan because of opportunity! But where will they live? Exactly! We get a residential BOOM during a recession!
These are all of the major ideals a city needs for growth… and if a city stops growing, that city dies (look at Detroit).
Dothan is NEVER going to be a Las Vegas or New Orleans! Our city commissioners are smart enough to NEVER let that happen! It is not about what is best for their palms. It is about what is best for the city!
***and to daphne:
It is OK to dream of pouring drinks… or sell cowboy hats… or “schlep” food. If your kids find happiness bartending rather than working at an “Initech”... then so what? I am a well-educated and very motivated 27yo who found his happiness “pouring drinks”. It is simple minded people such as yourself who look down at the service industry as people who couldn’t cut the “real” job. I have had “real” jobs and found out that I don’t like them! I make a phenomenal amount of money bartending, and I LOVE MY JOB!!! In the next few years I plan on opening a bar of my own… where your kids might end up working… haha
TRUEGRIT…VERY well said….and I thought I was the only one who thought “moron”. You sure don’t see ANYONE else willing to stick their neck out like Ronnie to try and create opportunities for such an ungrateful bunch of “Sunday Christians” in the hypocritic Bible belt.
EpriseGuy, it is jealous “village idiots” like yourself that caused Country Crossings (and probably soon to be all of Gilley’s business ventures) to leave Enterprise. I work with Ronnie, and we paid over 2 million to IRS last year in a down market. As a company we also made large donations to the school system and produced an album where proceeds from the record go to the deficit in rebuilding the high school. Not to mention the jobs and revenue created by Bama Jam which was the largest tax source for a 3 day period, ever for Coffee County. For you to make accusations about ponzi schemes and ask for IRS to investigate our books is ludicrous. We have nothing to hide. We paid the high price for the land because of the government stoppage of our previous location with archeological findings. With the credit market non-existant we had to pay an exorbant amount for the land because the seller financed it for us. We didn’t cry about it- we kept moving forward, and I am sure there are alot of residents in Houston County who own land that would love to thank us. If you weren’t such a moron, not to mention a coward, hiding behind a screen name making libelous statements, I would try to explain business 101 to you in detail, but instead I will leave this short example. If you were an investor and were investing in a project that has a gaming component in it which serves as the economic facilitator because the banks won’t lend money in a market that is being compared to the “Great Depression”, and you have a Governor in that state with an aggressive campaign to shut that economic facilitator down, any intelligent investor would probably be really scared. We aren’t- because we know we are legal and this is another ploy to stop a great project. Why the Governor would be so aggressive toward this matter should be investigated since he took pact money from casino owners in Mississippi. This is just another hurdle we will either overcome in Alabama, or we will take a huge loss and go elsewhere and be profitable, bringing in tourist revenue for the state and create thousands of jobs. We have never slowed the project down from the day we started and won’t until Ronnie tells us to. So why don’t you drive by the site and see all the work going on everyday “EpriseGuy” and take your “Ponzi” scheme accusations with you.
Hey “epriseguy”....WHERE have you been? There are 1/4-1/2 acre lots selling for more than $53,000.
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