ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A master plan for the Port of St. Petersburg was released last Thursday which reimagines the four acres of waterfront property with a park, cruise terminal and marine repair facility.

What You Need To Know

A master plan for the Port of St. Petersburg was released last Thursday 

The plan envisions a park with a restaurant, cruise terminal pier, marine operations center, superyacht marina and maintenance repair overhaul facility

The price tag ranges from $158 million to $270 million, which does not include design, soft costs or future prices

City Council members on the Public Service and Infrastructure Committee pushed back on some of the ideas and the price tag

“It was definitely overdue for a new look and perspective at what we do with this port property,” said David Wirth, Marina and Port Manager. “The last port master plan was 1999.”

The plan envisions a harborside park with a restaurant at the west entrance, followed by a cruise terminal pier, marine operations center, superyacht marina with docks for recreational boats and maintenance repair overhaul facility on the east end.

The price tag ranges from $158 million to $270 million, which does not include design, soft costs or future prices. Wirth said the project would be done in phases over 20 years with grants and private partnerships covering some of the cost.

“We’re not looking to pay for it all at once. It’s going to be a phased approach,” he said. “We will absolutely engage with public and private investors and grant funding. The beauty of having a port is that there is a lot of grant dollars out there.”

American Cruise Lines sails to Key West with a 100-passenger ship and has been growing its operation at the port for the past three years, according to Wirth. He said the small cruise line wants a long term lease and has expressed interest in helping to pay for a terminal.

“If we can incorporate a passenger processing facility or a passenger terminal building for them,” he said. “We started with one ship. We’ve ramped up to three ships a week now for about five, six months out of the year.”

The master plan incorporates the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub and its proposed Hub 2 facility. Alison Barlow is the CEO of the Innovation District, which oversees the Hub, and calls the plan “interesting.” Barlow said she’s not in favor of the waterfront green space with a restaurant or recreational boat docks because those could impact marine research work.  

“I think my concern is that the port is a secure port, and that is an attribute of being a commercial port,” she said. “So once we open it up to, say, a park or something like that, we could potentially lose that designation.”

“I think we should keep it more as a unique commercial port,” she added. “We’ll have some commercial vessels that will come in. We’ll have research vessels, our technology partners will be able to do test and evaluation.”

St. Petersburg City Council members on the Public Service and Infrastructure Committee voiced similar concerns when the master plan was first presented during their meeting last Thursday. The committee members also pushed back on the price tag, stating they don’t want to subsidize another St. Pete Pier and called the plan a dream board.

Wirth said a pier would double the dock space available to rent at the port and the city makes a profit off the fees paid by the small cruise line.

“The cruise.. we’re not looking for the big ships. It’s small boutique,” he said. “We’re not Fort Lauderdale but we are seeing an interest in St. Pete for those kind of larger yachts.”

Council member Gina Driscoll whose district covers the area said she did not want to see the port turned into a cruise terminal and wants to keep it more industrial.

“I think it’s important to look at the bigger picture across our waterfront,” she said. “Make sure we are balancing our existing recreational amenities with good jobs in the ocean economy like we currently have on the port.”

Wirth said the ideas in the plan came from the community along with stakeholders in the area but it’s in draft form and he’ll incorporate the feedback from the committee into revisions.

“It’s ambitious, it’s everything that we want in there. But maybe it isn’t the best to have a waterfront dining option down here. We’re limited on space to begin with,” he said. “We’ll go back and we’ll fine tune and review everything.”

Wirth hopes to present a final master plan to the full city council for approval before the end of the year.