Landowner demands answers after claims that construction crews damaged his land

GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV)- A Gulfport property owner is demanding answers after he says construction crews building a St. Jude Home damaged his land.

The property in Florence Gardens was being prepared for sale when the owner says he discovered the damage.

Now questions are being raised about who gave those crews permission to use the property in the first place.

An alleged email from the builder’s project manager is adding to the controversy.

WXXV News 25’s Spencer Reid Pullen takes a closer look at the allegations and the property owner’s fight for accountability.

In Gulfport’s Florence Gardens community, property owner Steve Johnson says his slice of paradise has turned into a nightmare.

He claims crews building a St. Jude Home next door trespassed on his property, leaving behind deep tire tracks, exposed dirt, and damaged grass on land he’s trying to sell. “I mean, this was all grass. This was all that we were gonna cut Friday and put, put a sign out.”

Johnson blames Clark Builders Incorporated. In an email provided to WXXV News 25, Project Manager Bryan Hall claims his crews were told they had permission to use the property and planned to clean it up after construction.

But Johnson tells a different story. “You can’t build; you can’t stage on my property. I don’t know y’all, and I’ve never spoken to y’all, and there’s not one person I’ve given consent to.”

But it’s another part of the email that Johnson says crossed the line.

Hall appears to appeal to St. Jude’s mission, asking Johnson to move forward in support of a good cause.

For Johnson, a cancer survivor, that response was personal. “As a cancer survivor, six months to li- you’re playing that card with me? Let’s get real.”

Johnson says he supports St. Jude, but wants the builder held accountable. “As a resolution, um, it’s so bad that honestly, you break it, you buy it. That’s my thing.”

WXXV News 25 reached out to Clark Builders Incorporated for comment on these allegations, but as of this report, we have not received a response.