St. Pete Pier weathers three storms, city assesses damages

Costly storm damages near the pier

Genevieve Curtis reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - More than a month ago, Hurricane Milton delivered the third gut punch to the Tampa Bay area this hurricane season. From Debby to Helene and then Milton, all three did damage to the coastline, and it added up for the City of St. Petersburg.

The city considers the pier and the surrounding area, its front porch as it welcomes people to St. Pete. FOX 13 is now getting a sense of how much it will cost to clean up the welcome mat.

"It has proved to be extraordinarily resistant," said Chris Ballestra, the city’s managing director of development.

READ: New faces on St. Pete City Council ready get to work on storm recovery efforts

The Glazer Family playground was completely submerged by Milton’s heavy rain and endured Helene’s storm surge. At one point, staff thought they’d have to replace it, but it has now reopened.

"They’ve told, we are good to go without a replacement required, a cost savings as well," Ballestra.

From rollerblades to runners, a popular part of St. Pete, will see some big bills, though. The seawall was critically damaged, and city council approved $3.5 million to fix the waterfront infrastructure.

"We know that there is significant damage there," said City Rep. Gina Driscoll.

MORE: St. Pete leaders request report on Tropicana Field damage following Hurricane Milton

There is damage to the floating docks, and the pier lost about 40 trees. A public art installation called "Bending Arc," a net-like "floating sculpture," was damaged and may be taken down to assess ways to make it more resilient. The art initially cost $1.5 million.

"It has been damaged in three separate storms. Its come to the point now where we believe the only way to repair it and handle it is to bring the sculpture down," said City Development Administrator James Corbett.

One cost the city isn’t footing is cleaning up the crane. The developer is paying for that and footing the bill for city expenses, like the police officers who have to keep the street blocked off, staff said.

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