The Gulfport City Council voted 6 to 1 Tuesday to approve a 40-year lease that will bring a new waterfront restaurant from chef Robert St. John's New South Restaurant Group to the Gulfport Harbor, a project expected to create between 55 and 70 jobs on a stretch of shoreline where the White Cap Restaurant once stood before being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
The council's approval, as reported by WLOX, covered three separate resolutions: transferring the property to the Gulfport Redevelopment Commission, approving the lease agreement itself, and granting access to the city beach. The lease runs 40 years and carries a minimum base rent of more than $33,000 a year, paid to the Gulfport Redevelopment Commission, according to the station's report.
The new restaurant will be an extension of Ed's Burgers, the Hattiesburg burger joint already under the New South Restaurant Group banner. Per the same account, the Hattiesburg location will be rebranded as Ed's On the Coast once the Gulfport outpost opens, which NOLA.com reports will operate under the name Ed's On the Beach and is slated to open in spring 2028, with NOLA.com publishing a rendering included in the lease agreement that depicts attractions planned as part of the restaurant, including beach chairs and a volleyball court.
A Beach Divided, But Still Open
The project will divide the beach at the harbor, but the article notes the public will still retain access to the sidewalk running through the area. The White Cap Restaurant once stood there before it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Ed's Burgers itself has built a loyal following in Hattiesburg since opening. The restaurant celebrated its eighth birthday in February 2024, and the Mississippi Beef Council named it the “Best Burger in Mississippi,” according to a post on Robert St. John's website. St. John has described the burger concept as central to his company's expansion plans, saying, “It's our growth vehicle as we have a couple of them in the works for future locations,” per the same site.
Part Of A Bigger Coastal Building Boom
The harbor lease lands amid a broader wave of development reshaping downtown Gulfport. “Restaurants are opening. Hotels are rising. Developers are planning to build more apartments and shops,” according to a report from nola.com. Among the larger projects nearby is the $105 million Channel South town center, which includes a 114-room Marriott Tribute hotel and a nearly 300-space public parking garage funded through a Mississippi Legislature allocation, as reported by the Sun Herald. Channel South is slated to open in 2027 at the intersection of U.S. 90 and 49, per nola.com.
The building spree extends across the Mississippi Gulf Coast more broadly. More than a dozen new hotels have opened across the region in recent years, a trend the Sun Herald attributes largely to the area's growing festival and event scene. The 115-room Markham Hotel in Gulfport, originally built a century ago before closing in 1970, reopened in April, while the Marble Springs Hotel opened in Ocean Springs in August and an 11-room project called Hotel Biloxi opened last summer in a former nightclub and breakfast-restaurant space. Event-driven tourism has also been a major draw: Cruisin' The Coast pulled in more than 10,700 registered participants this year, breaking a previous record, the Sun Herald reported.
