Anna Maria commissioners have approved a bid to rebuild the City Pier, a significant step toward reopening a hub for tourists and residents.
Last month, city commissioners met to finalize the $4.6 million bid from Tampa Bay Marine Inc. According to the contract, construction will start within two months, and the walkway will be substantially complete by April.
The pier, located north of the Pine Avenue and North Bay Boulevard intersection, was decimated by hurricanes Helene and Milton last year. Deemed unsalvageable, what remained of the walkway was demolished earlier this year.
Tampa Bay Marine will replace the 730-foot-long pier walkway. The project also includes installing potable water, sanitary sewer lines, fire protection, communications, gas and lighting, according to the bid contract.
The $4.6 million bid came in at the low end of what the city expected, Mayor Mark Short said. Before the bid, the city expected the entire project to cost about $7 million to $9 million. Now, the estimate is between $6 million and $7 million.
Crews with Tampa Bay Marine first need to install a few test pilings, which Short said will happen in about four to six weeks. After those are approved, the crew will continue installing what will be about 130 pilings for the foundation of the walkway.
“The goal here is to be working on the T-end of the pier while the walkway is being built,” Short said. “We’re attacking this from both ends.”
The walkway represents about 70% of the total cost, Short said. Other costs will include repairing the T-end of the pier, which housed the Mote Science Education and Outreach Center and the City Pier Grill and Bait Shop.
Short said that work on the end structure will begin in about two weeks when crews will attach a barge to the end of the pier, begin removing the fixtures from the structure and analyze the full extent of the damage.
While discussions have occurred between the city and the previous occupants — Mote and the City Pier Grill and Bait Shop — there is no indication yet whether the two will return.
Reopening the City Pier will restore an institution to the island community. Short hopes the pier will be fully operational by next fall, barring any major storms.
“We’re excited,” Short said. “We hope the weather cooperates. That’s honestly going to be the biggest variable here.”
He said the city wants to ensure the entire pier is functional instead of opening it piecemeal.
Before the pier closed due to the hurricanes, it was a hub for tourists and residents, and a landing spot for the county’s Gulf Islands Ferry system.
“We know it’s extremely important, not only for the city and the commercial businesses that are in the city, but for the county,” Short said at a June 18 meeting with the county commission. “We know it’s important for everybody, and that’s why my vision is that we need to be aggressive.”
Local and state officials understood the regional importance of the amenity and helped fund the reconstruction.
State legislators pushed for a $1.5 million appropriation for the project, which Gov. Ron DeSantis granted with the state’s latest budget. The city is also awaiting reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which could bring another $4 million.
The Manatee County Tourist Development Council approved the city’s request of up to $2 million for the project.
At the June 18 joint meeting between the city of Anna Maria and the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, County Commissioner George Kruse said rebuilding the pier was essential.
“This has to be rebuilt,” Kruse said. “I don’t think there’s any alternative. It’s critical to our tourism, it’s critical to our residents.”
