Published: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:00 AM

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April M. Havens, The Mississippi Press

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View full sizeWilliam Carey University’s old Gulfport campus is listed for sale for $19.5 million, Realtor Mark Cumbest said. The nearly 20-acre site will be cleared within the next few months. Most of the buildings, which were damaged in Hurricane Katrina, are demolished already, but a few off U.S. 90 remain. (Courtesy Cumbest Realty)

HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. — It’s not every day that Jackson County Realtor Mark Cumbest puts up a college campus for sale, he said, but he’s hoping a little demolition work will help him get the site sold.

Cumbest, owner of Cumbest Realty Inc., recently listed the former William Carey University campus in Gulfport for $19.5 million.

Named William Carey College at the time, the campus was created after the Hattiesburg-based school purchased the former Gulf Coast Military Academy campus on Beach Boulevard in Gulfport in 1976.

Hurricane Katrina devastated the campus in 2005, Cumbest said, and the school has been working to demolish the damaged buildings and clear the nearly 20-acre campus.

Several buildings near U.S. 90 remain but will come down over the next few months, he said.

“They started on the north end of the campus and are working their way south,” he said. “It’ll be clear, beautiful propriety with a waterfront view when they’re done.”

Cumbest said the site has high elevations, a beautiful view and numerous ancient oak trees sprinkled over the land.

“It’s a really scenic site,” he said. “It’s really a premier location, too, because nearly 20 acres on the water is almost unheard of.”

The site is just west of Edgewater Mall and the Great Southern Golf Club.

“It’s the first college campus I’ve ever listed,” Cumbest said. “But ultimately, with the buildings gone, it will be opened up for more flexibility and uses.”

The campus is currently zoned for residential use, Cumbest said, which lends itself to housing opportunities.

“But what I see going there, subject to proper zoning, is a mixed-use, high-end development, maybe with some luxury apartments, retail and a small commercial center,” he said.

The campus has been on the market before, Cumbest said. Before Katrina, it was listed for $40 million. Then, after the storm it was listed for $30 million.

After the storm, the university continued to hold art classes on the campus for some time.

William Carey University’s new Tradition Campus, which opened in fall 2009, is located at the intersection of Miss. 67 and Miss. 605, north of Biloxi and Gulfport.

The new 30-acre campus is part of Tradition, a 4,800-acre, master-planned community that is the largest under development in the state.

William Carey’s $14 million Phase I project has 58,559 square feet of space, according to the university’s website, and additional phases are planned to accommodate up to 3,000 students. The school currently has about 30 classrooms and labs.