St. Pete Pier Groundbreaking Set

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Petersburg residents and visitors eager to see a replacement for the pier put in place don’t have to wait too much longer for work to get under way. The city has announced plans for a groundbreaking next week.

The June 28 ceremony will start at 9 a.m. on the north side of the Pier Approach, in front of Spa Beach. Speakers scheduled for the even include Mayor Rick Kriseman, Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin and Betsy Johnson, a teen who will talk about the impact the new pier will have on the community.

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The process to create a new pier began in 2014, shortly after Kriseman took office. The new $46 million pier project also includes a $20 million budget for the creation of Pier Approach. The overall pier district will include such features as a fishing deck, restaurant and event space, event plaza, an education center, a floating platform, splashpad and pavilion. The pier project encompasses 26 acres on St. Petersburg’s waterfront.

Work on the new pier is hoped to be completed in 2019. Once finished, the new pier will replace the city’s iconic inverted pyramid that was constructed in the 1970s to replace the original 1920s pier. The inverted pyramid was demolished in 2015.

For more information about the new pier, visit the city’s website.

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Rendering via the City of St. Petersburg’s website