Jul. 23--BILOXI, Miss.--An international hotel chain with two luxury hotels in the French Quarter will operate the remodeled White House Hotel in Biloxi when it reopens in the fall of 2002. 

The hotel will be managed by the Boston-based Sonesta Group, which has luxury hotels around the world. In the United States, the company operates hotels in Key Biscayne, Fla., and Boston as well as the Royal Sonesta Hotel and Chateau Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans. 

The White House owner said the hotel will be able to tie into Sonesta's reservation system. 

"We'll have a scratch-your-back relationship with those two hotels in New Orleans," said James S. Love III. "We can send guests over there and they can send guests to us." 

Sonesta has worked closely with Love, Dean & Dean, the Jackson-based architects who are designing the hotel, and Design Continuum, an Atlanta-based interior design firm. 

Upscale projects are nothing new to the architects or the interior designers. Dean & Dean does architectural work for McRae's department stores, and Design Continuum specializes in finishings for private clubs and fine hotels, such as Ritz-Carlton. 

"Everything has been thought about and the firms have all provided a lot of insight," said Love, whose father owned the hotel from 1940 to 1971. 

The 110-room hotel will feature courtyards, roof gardens and a pier, along with a picturesque view of the shoreline. Rates in the hotel will be among the highest on the Coast, Love said. 

"This is a special place to the local community," Love said. "It will be restored properly and that will be a factor in its success." 

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(c) 2001, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. SNSTA,