Block, Steven W.

Gerald Blessey has practiced law for 41 years on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and currently serves as Counsel in the Gulfport office. He is a member of the firm's Real Estate, Lending and Commercial; Business Litigation; and Public Finance practice groups. Mr. Blessey also serves as Gulf Coast Housing Director, appointed by Governor Haley Barbour in 2008 to oversee completion of CDBG affordable housing programs for low-moderate income residents affected by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Blessey is President and General Counsel for Tradition Properties, Inc., developing a 4,800-acre master planned community 10 minutes north of Biloxi and Gulfport.

Mr. Blessey was Mayor of Biloxi, 1981-1989, and was a Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, 1972-1989. He was President of the Mississippi Municipal League 1988-89. He served as the first Chairman of the Harrison County Wastewater and Solid Waste Management Authority (now Harrison County Utility Authority), 1982-1989. As Mayor, he wrote Mississippi's first Tax Increment Financing Law and testified on behalf of its adoption.

In his Real Estate, Lending and Commercial Practice, Mr. Blessey has been involved in complex commercial real estate transactions, environmental and land use permits and governmental approvals, creation of public utility districts, and contracts for commercial and residential construction.

In his Business Litigation practice, Mr. Blessey has been involved in numerous mediations, trials and proceedings involving eminent domain, land use planning and zoning, property taxes, tidelands, lender liability, construction contracts, title defects, unjust enrichment, libel and defamation, corporate bonds and mortgages, and class actions involving insurance coverage and product liability.

In his Public Finance Practice, Mr. Blessey has been involved in the creation of tax increment planning districts, public improvement districts, and public utility districts (water, wastewater, and stormwater), and the creation of other public-private partnerships. He has extensive experience in Community Development Block Grants and other state and federal business incentive, grant and loan programs.