The building at the T-end of the Anna Maria City Pier has stood empty since the pier was rebuilt two years ago.
And it will remain empty for a while more.
City clerk LeAnne Addy announced via email March 1 that the city canceled a March 8 special meeting to discuss Mote Marine Laboratory’s plans for an educational outreach center to fill the space.
Mote agreed in September 2021 to lease the empty 1,800-square-foot empty space on the pier and more recently has been planning the interior.
Mote’s options include:
- Creating a center with four marine live display tanks featuring different fish and crustaceans visitors can view and touch;
- Creating a center with interactive media displays such as a livestream underwater video from beneath the pier.
Mayor Dan Murphy has said both options would be considered if the pier passes a structural inspection needed to add display tanks.
Murphy wrote in a March 3 email to The Islander that the March 8 meeting was canceled because the city “did not receive the inspection report in time for the commission to review the results.”
He said Sarasota-based Infrastructure Solutions Services had not completed the inspection as of March 3 but it should be finished by the week beginning March 7.
Murphy added that a meeting with Mote would be rescheduled as soon as possible “once we have all the necessary documents in hand.”