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Editorial: Pushing ahead with Pier Park

 
Mayor Rick Kriseman will ask the City Council on Thursday to approve design and construction contracts for St. Petersburg’s new municipal pier, as well as a demolition contract for the old inverted pyramid.
Mayor Rick Kriseman will ask the City Council on Thursday to approve design and construction contracts for St. Petersburg’s new municipal pier, as well as a demolition contract for the old inverted pyramid.
Published July 7, 2015

Mayor Rick Kriseman will ask the City Council on Thursday to approve design and construction contracts for St. Petersburg's new municipal pier, as well as a demolition contract for the old inverted pyramid. Over the next three years, city officials must keep costs within the $33 million construction budget and make sure that Pier Park's innovative design unfolds as promised. But for now, it's gratifying to see that the Pier Park concept continues to draw broad community support and is progressing along a steady path toward becoming St. Petersburg's next waterfront jewel.

St. Petersburg's "Million Dollar" municipal pier lasted four decades, as did the inverted pyramid that replaced it, until crumbling pilings and lackluster use created a clear need for a third-generation structure. After voters rejected the city's first proposal — the elegant but unpopular Lens — Kriseman wisely solicited widespread community input about which pier functions the public most desires. In a design competition, both a volunteer selection committee and the council favored how Pier Park promises to connect the upland to the pierhead with a dynamic mix of access routes and activities.

Thursday's vote will authorize $5.2 million for demolition by Sonny Glasbrenner of Clearwater, initial construction services by Skanska USA, and schematic designs by architects ASD of Tampa and Rogers Partners of New York. A demolition permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected soon. Later this year, after schematic designs and programmatic details grow more detailed, city officials will solicit feedback from residents and council members before authorizing final construction designs. Construction is expected to begin by early 2017 and end in the spring of 2018.

Few issues have caused as much civic discord in recent years as how to replace the city's pier. Now it's time to come together behind Pier Park.

Financing comes from a downtown taxing district dedicated to capital projects, so the new pier does not compete directly with police salaries, park maintenance or other general revenue needs. But a substantial segment of the community wanted to preserve the pyramid shape, which evoked nostalgic memories of St. Petersburg's past. Such sentiment helped scuttle the Lens proposal, which delayed the pier replacement by two years.

The Pier Park concept is now moving forward with broader support, particularly among younger residents and recent transplants who are driving the downtown's vibrant renaissance. An agreement Kriseman recently negotiated with county officials frees up another $20 million in taxing district funds to create a seamless connection to the city by integrating the pierhead, Spa Beach and Second Avenue NE all the way west to Beach Drive. Key advocates for keeping the pyramid design seem to have accepted the reality that St. Petersburg has chosen a new direction.

These are expensive, transformative projects that require close monitoring and creative adjustments as design and construction proceed. The Kriseman administration's track record on the pier so far should engender confidence on the council that he will protect and enhance the city's interests going forward.

With any luck, St. Petersburg's July Fourth festivities three years from now will include thousands of celebrants cheering fireworks from a spanking-new pier.