Pier Park ASD/Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers/ KSLA

Concept Overview

The Municipal Pier. The Million Dollar Pier. The inverted pyramid. And now, Pier Park. This $46 million project is set for a grand opening in the spring of 2018. Let’s go on a virtual walking tour.

Water Lounge

The floating dock at the end of the pier includes a water lounge that lets visitors splash in about 12 inches of filtered bay water that flows into the pool-like area. To the south stretches a fishing dock, bait shop and convenience dock.

Bait Shop and Fishing

The Bait Shack provides a concession at the pier’s end. Located between the Convenience Dock and the Fishing Deck to serve both land-loving and sea-going anglers, the Bait Shack provides last minute bait and tackle supplies and a cleaning station for the days catch.

The Great Lawn and Event Plaza

A large sloping lawn rises to meet the pier’s second level. The Great Lawn is overlooked by the pier’s third-floor balcony with its terraced seating. The lawn and balcony can accommodate up to 4,000 people for special events, including concerts, fireworks and festivals. Or, it can simply be a place to relax on Tampa Bay.

Resturant, Observation Deck and Balcony

The third floor is a 7,600-square-foot, air-conditioned restaurant encased in glass. The building and its roof, except for areas facing east and west, will be wrapped in tensioned ribbons offering shade but open air. A terraced viewing area leads from the restaurant to the rooftop. Visitors enter the second floor from the Great Lawn, an easy accessible entry ramp, or at the tram stop at street level. Each level of the pier will have a lobby and restrooms.

Coastal Thicket

It may feel like a nature stroll, but you’ll actually be walking in a human-sized window box set on pilings over the water. It will be 45 feet wide and planted with Florida friendly trees and shrubs growing up to 3 to 4 feet deep soil. The boardwalk over land and water begins near the Dolphin Parking Lot and continues a little more than halfway to the pier head.

Boat House, Kayak and Paddleboat Rental

The Boat House provides an opportunity for visitors to rent kayaks, paddle boats, and paddle boards to explore within the protected waters behind the reef and beyond. Nestled below the Flight Deck, the Boat House provides a storage location for the boats at night and off-season. The Boat House deck slopes down into the water, providing a safe launch for novice paddlers.

Classrooms and Amphitheater

This area includes a “wet classroom,” and an outside amphitheater with concrete benches. Just past it is an air-conditioned classroom. A boathouse on the north side sits on a floating dock.

Tilted Lawn and Shade Porch

The tilted lawn, created on a large concrete ramp that includes a big hole – the occulus – that allows you to peer down into Tampa Bay. Walk past the sloped lawn and turn around, and you’ll see what’s beneath it, a shaded area facing the bay. Porch swings will hang from the underside for your enjoyment.

Splash Pad

The water playground and splash pad is an outdoor, water-based playground for kids of all ages and abilities. Water playgrounds and splash pads provide fun and cooling activities for kids, and it creates an experience that’s enjoyable for the whole family.

Welcome Plaza

At the center of what is now the pier approach will be a grove of trees and shrubs as well as a welcome area with a covered tram stop. It includes a splash pad and a bike-share station. All surfaces are textured concrete, which can look like wood or stone.

Spa Beach

As you walk on Spa Beach, the sand is the same but the sea wall on the north is gone, replaced with a more natural landscape that gradually meets the water. Spa Beach will have changing rooms, restrooms and a play area.

Spa Beach Playground and Changing Rooms

In close proximity to the beach, a new comfort station with changing rooms will be located in the vicinity of the existing restrooms. Convenient to parking and the tram stop, this amenity helps make the short beach visit viable to visitors and local families alike. A playground adjacent to the changing rooms keeps kids occupied between dips in the water.

Waterfront Master Plan Integration

The movement from concept through design and ultimate construction of Pier Park follows the direction of the recently approved Downtown Waterfront Master Plan. Through this collaboration, the city will not only see the creation of a new iconic pier, but also an innovative and interactive landscape that spans from the uplands onto Tampa Bay.

Pier Park features a new upland plaza with interactive water play area; a multi-modal transit stop; an expanded Spa Beach protected by a new reef breakwater and augmented with new changing rooms, restrooms, and beach playground; an environmental center with both indoor and outdoor experiential components; several unique flexible programming zones with differing scales and characters; and a variety of floating docks that encourage access to the water for boating, swimming, and fishing.