Thrillist covered the opening of the St. Petersburg pier and pier approach in this article, Florida is About to Unveil the Biggest Waterfront Playground in the Southeast. The pier and pier approach will finally be unveiled to the public in late spring 2020 after a decade of work and planning by the city. The new pier and pier approach will span 26 acres and be the largest waterfront park in the Southeast US.

St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman said “I think this will be our new Millennial Park, our new Central Park. and we’re a city of parks. This This new iteration is completely different … from the moment you make that turn off of Bayshore into the pier district, you’re gonna have different experiences that take you along the way before you ever get to the pierhead itself.” Mayor Kriseman goes on to say, “I think the kids in our community are absolutely going to love it. And that was one of the things that was really important to us in this new pier iteration, we wanted something that was not only for our tourists who are coming to visit us, but we wanted locals and families to really take advantage of this district. That wasn’t something we’ve ever really seen before; as active and thriving as our downtown is, if you’ve got young kids or grandkids there hasn’t been as much for them to do. There will be now.”

We can’t wait for the park to open to the public!