D’Iberville Officials Still Trying to Get Aquarium Built

D’Iberville officials are still looking into possible developers to buy the site that was supposed to become Ocean Expo.

The land, which is southwest of I-10 and I-110, was purchased by the city in 2011 with expectations of a new aquarium being built. However, the contract for Ocean Expo expired with no development. The city initially had an agreement with developer, Ramco Real Estate, to buy the property, but now a few more developers are interested. The city is now looking into which developer would be in the best interest of the city.

Bobby Eleuterius, City Manager for D’Iberville, says, "It’s a valuable piece of land, but also by securing the funding that we originally spent, we also want to secure a facility, whether it be a hotel, whether it be car dealerships, anything, whatever it’s going to be, we want to make sure that that’s going to be a good project that’s going to bring revenue into the city."

The land was appraised at $6.9 million, and D’Iberville officials are hoping to sell the land before the next payment is due in September.