The reconstruction of the Gulf Hills Hotel and Resort in Ocean Springs is nearly complete, making the historic area one step closer to reaching its former glory.
First opened nearly one century ago, the location has served as a quiet hideaway for celebrities throughout the years, including Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, and Mississippi native Elvis Presley.
Following its establishment, guests were able to stay in one of the hotel’s 66 rooms while enjoying an 18-hole golf course, The Pink Pony Clubhouse, 13 waterfront villas, and the marina.
Several decades later, the hotel transformed into Mississippi’s first working “Dude Ranch,” allowing for activities in the wilderness in addition to its original features. According to Roxy Condrey, the co-owner of Rain Residential, Elvis was one of the most common celebrity guests at the hotel in the 1950s.
“That really was the draw for Elvis because he would stay in Villa #9. He could kind of get away from the people and have some privacy,” Condrey said on a recent episode of The Gallo Show. “There’s even rumor that he would cook his own pizza in the kitchen because he would stay for months at a time.”
Condrey added that the infamous gangster Al Capone is also rumored to have frequented the property years prior, as legend has that he had a hand in funding the hotel’s construction. There’s even a tunnel under the hotel if Capone needed a quick escape.
“There’s actually a house down the road from the hotel that has discovered a tunnel and they’ve told us there’s one under the hotel as well,” Condrey explained. “If the feds came, they would leave distracting the feds and he would jump in the tunnel and go to the house that’s down the street.”
The location’s long-time owners sold the property years after the hotel’s height in 1962, with the wake of Hurricane Camille seven years later and a fire of unknown origin in 1974 leaving the location in ruin.
In 2021, the former hotel and resort was sold to Condrey, her husband, and their business partner, with the new owners quickly making plans to revitalize the 12-acre property and the nearby marina for travelers to enjoy once again.
“We didn’t purchase it with really a big plan; we just knew we wanted the property to stay a hotel because the history is there and it’s such a big part of the coast,” Condrey said. “Before that, there was a person who was interested in putting an RV park there and plans of condos being built on the site. We certainly felt like it needed to stay a hotel.”
Since then, Condrey and her team have worked on revamping the hotel’s interior, with the five-year project now expected to focus on restoring the exterior of the historic building.
