The Rogers Partners / ASD|SKY / Ken Smith Workshop design for the new St. Pete Pier creates a destination that embraces the Pier’s role both as an icon for the City of St. Petersburg and an integral part of the vitality of downtown – a place for tourists and the local community alike, one that honors its history, while establishing a new icon for a 21st century public place.

The new St. Pete Pier is a 12-acre local and destination-based programming adaptable over time as recreation and quality of life grow and change with generations. Activities are diversified through flexible planning and programming that elevates and establishes a sustainable relationship between the natural and built environments. 

A variety of unique spaces enable active and passive connections to the bay: a coastal thicket, wet classroom, tilted lawn, and places for dining, fishing, boating, and swimming. The breakwater calms the water and creates more suitable environments for marine animals and plant life. The one-acre coastal thicket offers opportunities for new microecologies, created as part of the pier’s educational center, which includes 300 linear feet of new, artificial reef. Hydrodynamic modeling will allow for the production of calmed water and a naturalized beach frontage, enhancing both recreational use and seagrass habitats.