New Pier to have $79M impact

St. Petersburg's new Pier project and its amenities are expected to generate $79.5 million in new dining, retail and hotel sales after the city attraction opens late in 2018, according to a new study.

City consultant Lambert Advisory LLC says the new Municipal Pier also will result in 1,080 new jobs and produce $33 million a year in total wages.

The new Pier is also anticipated to bring in 715,000 out-of-area guests each year, who will spend $40 million and generate $15 million in new hotel expenditures and $935,000 in new bed tax.

In all, some 1.72 million people are expected to visit the new Pier, Lambert concludes. By comparison, the more famous Santa Monica Pier, outside Los Angeles, has 6 million visitors each year, while the Navy Pier, in Chicago, hosts 8 million people annually.

St. Petersburg city officials plan to kick off construction of the $66 million project within the next few months, from a design by ASD and Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers.

Current designs for the 26-acre Pier District call for an event pavilion, parkland, playgrounds, restaurants, retail space, water recreation area and a kayak launch. In April, St. Petersburg officials hired commercial real estate firm Colliers International to operate the park, at a cost of $3.2 million annually. Colliers will be required to hold roughly 80 public events a year at the Pier's event space.

The Pier, which debuted in 1973, closed four years ago.