Updated Jan. 2, 2020 – The Anna Maria City Commission will discuss Schoenfelder’s final offer at a special city meeting on Friday, Jan. 10 at 10 a.m.
Schoenfelder, who divides his time between Anna Maria and Germany, will participate in the meeting from afar by telephone or teleconferencing software.
ANNA MARIA – Wondering what’s been going on at the Anna Maria City Pier since Hurricane Irma closed it down?
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy recently provided The Sun with an exclusive tour of the new restaurant, bait shop and public restrooms being built at the end of the new City Pier.
Murphy said he’s very impressed with the work being done by Mason Martin Builders, the local firm that’s constructing the buildings atop the pier built by i+iconSoutheast.
While standing in what will be the kitchen area for the new restaurant, Murphy pointed to the steel girders and building frame and the large bolts along the base of the steel frame that secure the new buildings to the concrete pier platform below – which was not the case with the old wooden pier.
“The quality of the construction is incredible,” Murphy said.
The new pier also has a boat landing on one side that will make it accessible by water.
Murphy said he expects the pier buildings to be finished in late February – minus the interior buildouts of the restaurant and bait shop buildings that are expected to be completed by the future pier tenant.
Murphy also expects the pier walkway and T-end deck area to be opened to the public in late February. There is no timetable yet for when the restaurant and bait shop will open.
The new pier replaces the old pier that was already slated for future rehabilitation when Hurricane Irma ripped the roof off the bait shop, damaged the restaurant roof and popped loose several sections of the T-end decking. The old pier was demolished in 2018.
The new pier has an estimated cost of approximately $5 million and is being collectively funded with federal, state, county and city money. The current plan also calls for the pier tenant to pay for the interior buildouts of the new buildings, but that will ultimately depend on who the pier tenant is.
