The sale of the Vicksburg Chemical property to a Colorado-based development group was completed Tuesday, clearing the way for the development of shopping and housing areas, a golf course and perhaps a casino, city officials said this morning.

The land, free if cleaned up, was transferred to Silver Tip of Mississippi LLC, headed by Denver-based developer Paul Bunge, by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

&#8220It means the golf course will happen,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said this morning. Leyens has pushed for a privately built course to be added to the one public and one private facility now available.

&#8220We’re looking forward to moving ahead,” Bunge said by telephone. Silver Tip will begin marketing the land to developers in coming weeks, he said.

As something of a surprise, Bunge also appeared on the agenda of the Mississippi Gaming Commission earlier this month, proposing a casino with 1,500 slot machines and 35 table games in a 50,000-square-foot building on a riverside portion of the 480-acre tract.

Mississippi Bluffs Development LLC did not appear at the meeting, having been told to clear Vicksburg zoning authorities first. Leyens said at the time no mention of a casino development had been brought up during initial talks with Bunge. The group is expected to resubmit the proposal to the commission when it receives the OK from the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, which could come as soon as the board’s next meeting on July 11.

The property is on both sides of Warrenton Road south of the river bridges between Rifle Range Road and U.S. 61 South. It has been under MDEQ’s control since Vicksburg Chemical filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

The deal hinged on a pledge by Bunge for an $8 million cleanup on the 50 to 60 acres physically occupied by the former chemical plant, of which about 20 acres are contaminated, said City Attorney Nancy Thomas. The remainder of the tract is largely undeveloped kudzu-covered hills and hollows.

The Dutch company Arcadis will be on site soon to handle the cleanup, Bunge said. Another company, Harcross Engineering, will demolish the old plant structure.

Bunge said the land could be used for a park, part of the golf course or as a distribution center for Harcross, which could use some of the chemical plant’s old equipment to sell as spare parts. He has also said there will not be any residential or commercial construction on the plant site.

The addition of a golf course has been one of the Leyens administration’s priorities since he took office in 2001. After several unsuccessful efforts with other developers, the city reached an agreement last November with Bunge to build a course, to be called Mississippi Bluffs. The course will come with a price tag of $6 million to $12 million, Bunge said, depending on the scope of the project. The higher estimate depends on the addition of a high-profile golf name to attach to the course.

There is no timetable for any of the post-cleanup development. Bunge said the projects will be marketed to investment bankers.

Vicksburg now has four casinos, all built within two years of a local option vote in 1992. Several other projects were announced but have not moved forward for a variety of reasons. Two projects have now cleared most regulatory hurdles leading to the start of construction. Neither has started building.