The bids are in.
The process of signing a new lease to operate the restaurant and bait shop on the Anna Maria City Pier is one step closer to realization.
Construction of the new pier walkway and T-end at 101 Bay Blvd., almost is complete.
In the meantime, Mayor Dan Murphy and staff opened two bids April 8 to build out and operate the pier restaurant and bait shop.
The bid opening was held by teleconference.
Commissioners Carol Carter, Joe Muscatello and Amy Tripp attended by phone.
The city received bids from the Ugly Grouper, 5704 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, and Sean Murphy, owner of Beach Bistro, Eat Here and the Doctor’s Office, all in Holmes Beach.
“The pier is a treasured icon in our community. My children played there,” Sean Murphy said April 10. “It is an honor to be considered as an operator for the pier restaurant.”
The city hopes to have the restaurant and bait shop open in late 2020 or early 2021.
The mayor said the commission likely would discuss the bids at its meeting at 6 p.m. April 23, also to be held by phone.
Until then, the bids are confidential.
At an April 9 special meeting, the commission discussed opening the pier to sightseeing and fishing, as the walkway and T-end construction is nearly complete. But, they agreed to delay the opening until the spread of COVID-19 is abated
The mayor, Carter, Muscatello, Tripp and Commissioners Jonathan Crane and Mark Short attended by phone.
Carter added that an event she was working on with a group of island residents for the end of May also would be postponed.
The original pier opened in 1911 but was closed after it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. It was demolished and the city began construction on the new pier in 2018.
AM cancels Memorial Day tribute
It’s just safer.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy and city commissioners reached consensus April 9, during a special teleconference meeting, to cancel the city’s fourth annual Memorial Day Symphony Salute, planned for May 27 at City Pier Park, at the corner of Pine Avenue and North Bay Boulevard in Anna Maria.
The event was to include music performed by the Anna Maria Island Concert Orchestra and an honor guard ceremony.
Murphy said the celebration drew more than 500 people last year, so he was hesitant to plan such an event with the spread of COVID-19 still on the rise.
“It’s just too high of a risk,” Murphy said.
— ChrisAnn Allen