Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi coming along despite delays with construction materials

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - The Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi is still working to get its doors opens but progress is going slower than expected.

Original plans slated the opening day for November, but shipping delays with equipment and building materials pushed back the date.

Despite those delays, progress is being made at the Howard Avenue location and construction work has picked up the pace. That, in turn, has picked up excitement.

The vision for general manager Angie Ladner is getting clearer.

“These will be bow-tie curtains here with signed guitars and memorabilia,” she pointed out while looking at the indoor brick wall,” said Ladner. “The whole place will be...I sort of envision it as a museum as well.”

Having it in Biloxi just makes sense.

“This is the end of the Blues Trail,” she said. “And a lot of people don’t know that. So, if you look at the map of the Blues Trail, it ends in Biloxi.”

The locally-owned franchise of the original club in Clarksdale should be full blast by January with a few soft-opening events in December.

“We’re trying to pull in as much Clarksdale as we can, but also show Biloxi, pulling that together,” Ladner added.

Ladner has also pulled together an experienced team, including food and beverage director Allison Borders, who had been in that same role at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

The restaurant will serve cuisine that Borders calls “Southern Eats with a Delta Edge.” It’s designed as a companion with the music.

“Southern food, in general, is comfort food,” Borders said. “And the blues bring a lot of people comfort.”

Of course, the blues musicians themselves will be the centerpiece, and it will be up to production manager Alex Diaz to not only help them sound good, but feel good as well.

“We are making sure that every artist that comes through here that is road-weary or hungry is going to be in a good mood when they get up on that stage,” she said. “And so, every person that walks through this door will have a good time.”

There will be live entertainment every Wednesday through Saturday nights.

When finished, the club will have a 1,200-person standing-room-only capacity, a VIP lounge, a restaurant that will seat 200 people and apartments on the third floor. just like in Clarksdale.

Bill Luckett, the co-owner of the original Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, died on Thursday. It’s unclear at this time what, if any, effect that will have on the Biloxi location.

If you would like to follow construction updates for the club, click here.

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