Beach Walk takes step toward transformation

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Clearwater's long-awaited $30-million Beach Walk opened officially Saturday, and if you haven't taken a sunset stroll along that new Clearwater Beach boulevard, you have missed a treat.

The surf looks closer than ever, and the sand is just one step off the walkway rather than across an asphalt parking lot.

Narrow, cracked sidewalks where two people could scarcely walk abreast much less share the space with bicyclists or skaters, have been replaced by two broad, paved promenades for all kinds of users — one along the sand and the other in front of the stores, restaurants and hotels on the east side of S Gulfview Boulevard.

New palm trees, grass, flowers and sea oats — imagine that! — have brought a sea of green to an area where in recent years, greenery amounted to a weed struggling through a cracked sidewalk or an undernourished palm.

For years, the tourist areas of Clearwater Beach lay dormant, their slow decline obvious to all who looked. Beach Walk has changed that direction. Critics had feared the project would make the beach off limits to average people. One visit to Beach Walk proves that fear unfounded, because the beachfront is more accessible than ever, and will be even more so when — if — the city is able to build a public parking garage nearby.

As special as Beach Walk is now, no one who visits it should assume they are seeing it in full flower. Part of the eastern promenade is necessarily blocked because a new resort hotel is under construction there. Sometime in late 2009, the Hyatt Hotel will open, creating its own special interaction with Beach Walk and bringing 400 public parking spaces. Passers-by will be welcomed into the hotel to enjoy its restaurants and shops.

Other hotels, stores and restaurants — no doubt attracted by the Beach Walk project — eventually are expected to open on the east side, where the promenade is 35 feet wide to permit sidewalk cafes and public seating. So while the west side of Beach Walk is unlikely to see many changes other than maintenance and minor tweaking, the east side is still a work in progress in some sections.

An improved Coronado Drive was an important part of the Beach Walk project and it, too, will be new to those who haven't visited Clearwater Beach lately. Coronado, which is one block east of S Gulfview, is now the street expected to handle most of the south beach traffic. Motorists who want to travel quickly will take Coronado. Those interested in meandering, and enjoying a better-than-ever view of Clearwater Beach and the Gulf of Mexico, will take S Gulfview.

Beach Walk was designed to be a beautiful attractor — to attract new hotels and restaurants and to attract visitors who wanted an experience off the sand. Already, it is doing both.

Comments on this article

by Al	Jul 28, 2008 5:01 PM
"A waterfront once blocked by rows of parked cars is now in full view" as you drive by it, wondering where the h. you are supposed to park. Take a movie of it as you drive by, and view it in your hotel room in Orlando?

by jim	Jul 25, 2008 2:46 PM
From Mandalay to Adam's Mark, about $40 million was spent to remove hundreds of the most used parking spots, and revenues therefrom, inconveniencing everyone except hotel guests, who have parking, and a few dozen hikers, bikers, and rollerskaters.

by CC	Jul 25, 2008 1:54 PM
What's the draw to the beach? No cruising. No rollerblading. No radios. No t-backs. No fun. Change the motto to Come On Vacation-Leave On Probation. Time for the city manager to to go!

by Lisa	Jul 24, 2008 11:47 AM
Think about this. There's a perfect solution to all the concerns mentioned here. It will please both the beach people and the "go away" people, and the city of Clearwater can go on fumbling without any more criticism. The solution? BEACH SECESSION!

by JR	Jul 24, 2008 11:21 AM
The beach paper says more people attended the opening of the beach library than the grand opening of Beach Walk. Taxpayer $$$ wasted. The city's beach priorities (yes to Beach Walk fireworks, no to the library) are out of sync with beach residents.

by Jim	Jul 24, 2008 11:21 AM
An outrageous waste of the taxpayers' money. Clearwater citizens have been robbed of their beach parking. The Clearwater Mayor and council should be recalled.

by aj	Jul 24, 2008 11:21 AM
It is beautiful, but where are people to park to enjoy this new addition to the beach? Pass some legislation to lower some taxes and keep insurance under control and maybe businesses can make a buck and stay or reopen to greet beachgoers and thrive.

by Martin	Jul 23, 2008 7:29 PM
Move? I-75 runs North? Listen to you homers! Newsflash; If anymore business owners, property owners, tourists and investors get run off the beach by the city's constant idiocy, there won't be anything to see on Beach Walk except the homeless. Wise up

by Rowdy	Jul 23, 2008 5:06 PM
Beachwalk is great, but if you want to complain, move!

by Tom	Jul 23, 2008 4:40 PM
I love Beach Walk and I pray that it revives the beach, but to say the city was "nearly flawless" is just crazy. This project was a dragged-out, punishing nightmare to those of us on the beach. Very frustrating.

by Dean	Jul 23, 2008 4:39 PM
Press Release dated 8/25/2004; "BeachWalk has been on the drawing board for quite some time and is 30% completed. And, "City Council has approved adding $12.5m to Beach Walk...on top of $2.5m already allocated. Do the math! Coronado still isn't done.

by Lee	Jul 23, 2008 3:21 PM
It appears that the City's execution was nearly flawless because the original contract for the Gulfview section was set for 2.5 years and it was completed in 1.5 years. When was the last time you saw a project finish in only 60% of the allotted time?

by Vicky	Jul 23, 2008 3:20 PM
Here's 2 words the writer of this editorial needs to think about; APOLOGIST - a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial. SUBJECTIVE - proceeding from or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world.

by Jack	Jul 23, 2008 11:13 AM
The naysayers will have a field day with this. Some folks in Clearwater are against anything & everything that improves the city. Beachwalk is GREAT and the City did a fantastic job. Boo-birds are reminded that I-75 runs North as well as South.

by Brad	Jul 23, 2008 11:12 AM
Rah-rah-sis-boom-bah! Hurray for our team! Who cares if the beach economy has collapsed, our glorious leaders have built the finest albatross of all time! Who cares if it takes another 5 yrs for the beach to recover? The ends justify the inept means.

by Lawrence	Jul 22, 2008 9:03 PM
The Beach Walk concept is great. The city's execution of it has been ATROCIOUS. 60% of beach biz's bankrupted, tourism steered to failed-model Condo-hotels, density insanity, traffic & parking idiocy, and a cost of $31 MILLION & rising (lawsuits).