The Building Everyone Assumed Was Permanent in Bay St. Louis Wasn't

If you'd asked most people in Old Town last November which downtown building was safest from change, they'd have pointed at the L&N Depot on the water, second floor, where Alice Moseley's folk art had hung for well over a decade. Wrong guess. In December, the city council voted to end that lease, and by February the museum was hanging its paintings inside a former ceramics shop across town with roughly a year to find something more permanent. Around the same time, a few blocks over on Beach Boulevard, a group of local hospitality operators tore down an old real estate office to start building something four stories tall that won't open until 2027 at the earliest.

These changes offer a useful view of how downtown Bay St. Louis is evolving. The museum has moved to temporary quarters, while Bay Play is under construction nearby, creating two different stories about downtown destinations.

The December Depot Lease Vote

The Alice Moseley Folk Art and Antique Museum had been on the second floor of the historic Bay St. Louis Train Depot for years, sharing the building with the visitors center downstairs. Museum guide Donna Oakley put it plainly when WLOX first reported the move: "We love this location. It has worked wonderfully for us. It was a great partnership with the visitors center that was downstairs, but things change."

The city council voted in December to terminate the depot lease. WLOX reached out to Mayor Mike Favre at the time to ask about plans for the depot space. As of that report, he hadn't responded. The vote meant the museum needed to find a new location after years in the depot.

What "Temporary" Actually Means Right Now

The museum didn't disappear. It landed in the old Clay Creations building at the corner of Main and Toulme, a space local art patron Mamie Hillery had bought the previous December from longtime owners Jenise McCardell and Mark Currier. Crews spent weeks rehanging close to 150 original Alice Moseley paintings, and the museum held its soft opening in late February at its new address, 105 South Toulme Street, with hours running 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Hillery described what the building meant to her. As she told the Sea Coast Echo:

"Ever since I moved here, this building was like the flagship of Bay St. Louis to me. I take it as, Bay St. Louis isn't just 'A Place Apart,' it's 'A Place of Art.'"

Longtime museum board chairman Lonnie Falgout said in the Sea Coast Echo: "It was a lot of work getting everything moved, but we couldn't be more pleased, or more grateful to Mamie Hillery, who graciously made this all possible." Museum staffer Holly Coia added that the depot years drew a steady mix of visitors and locals bringing houseguests through, a detail that illustrates how visitors and locals used the museum.

Hillery has said the museum will likely remain in this Main and Toulme space for about a year while a permanent home is arranged. Visitors can find the museum there in the meantime.

Down the Street, the Opposite Bet

While the museum was figuring out where to land, a different kind of permanence was getting poured in concrete. Developers tore down the old real estate office at 105 N. Beach Boulevard to make room for Bay Play, a four-story arcade and rooftop bar that co-owner Miles Corbitt describes as a "bar-cade." As Corbitt explained to WLOX, the concept splits cleanly by floor: "First three stories are gonna be nothing but arcade games, then the fourth story will be an upscale bar where the parents can hang out."

Corbitt partnered with brothers Jourdan and Field Nicaud, whose hospitality footprint already includes Pass Bungalows in nearby Pass Christian and food and beverage concepts up and down the coast. Bay Play will run food from the Nicauds' restaurant, Field's, and the team has also floated plans for a Le Magnolia hotel targeted for spring 2027, which suggests this isn't a single speculative bet so much as one piece of a larger, multi-year buildout.

What makes Bay Play worth noting isn't the arcade games. It's that the city's own Director of Planning, Jeremy Burke, confirmed the project is filling a documented gap rather than chasing a trend. As he told WXXV: "We can all agree that we have a lot of stuff to do for families, adults, sometimes lacking stuff for kids and teenagers to do is one of the things, and they're trying to fill the void." Corbitt made the same point, noting that downtown used to have a skating rink and a movie theater, both long gone. Bay Play isn't expected to open until sometime in 2027. That's a long runway for a business built around ticket redemption and rooftop beer pong, and it's a longer commitment than the depot lease the museum just lost.

The Quieter Additions Filling in Around Them

The museum's temporary move and the Bay Play construction are not the only recent changes downtown. Other additions include:

• Butcher Block Steak House & Bar, serving hand-cut steaks and Gulf seafood, including a redfish étouffée and a smash burger locals have nicknamed the "Almost Famous"
• Hollydeck Bar & Marina, an elevated outdoor deck at the Hollywood Casino with live music and rotating events
• Boonies on the Bayou, a barbecue spot that crossed the state line from Pearl River, Louisiana, and has quickly built a following among diners looking for something outside the usual seafood and Italian rotation

These businesses have opened, while the museum is in temporary quarters and Bay Play is under construction. Their different timelines show that downtown’s recent changes range from completed openings to projects still taking shape.

How These Changes Shape Downtown Bay St. Louis

Putting the two stories side by side shows different ways downtown locations can change. The depot lease ended, and the museum moved to temporary quarters at Main and Toulme while a permanent home is arranged. Hillery's purchase of the building made that temporary location available.

Beach Boulevard shows the opposite motion. New money is betting years ahead on a need the city's own planning office has publicly acknowledged, rather than testing the water with something easy to walk away from. A four-story building under construction is a harder commitment to unwind than a second-floor museum lease ever was.

If you already live here, the practical takeaway isn't just which restaurant to try this weekend, though Butcher Block and Boonies on the Bayou are both worth the trip. Downtown includes new businesses and longer-term projects, while the museum continues in a temporary location. Watching how these changes develop can offer a useful perspective on the area.

Glenn-Marie Fitzgerald pays close attention to exactly this kind of shift, because knowing which buildings in Bay St. Louis actually turn over, and why, is part of understanding what any address here is really worth. If this year's changes downtown have you thinking about your own home's place in this market, Glenn-Marie Fitzgerald can help you get a clear answer. Get Your Home Value, Start Here.