The Anna Maria City Pier may be looking for a tenant.
City commissioners unanimously voted Jan. 8 to terminate Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory’s lease on the city pier — the east side of T-end building that housed Mote’s Marine Science Education and Outreach Center before two hurricanes closed the pier.
Mote signed a 10-year lease for the space in September 2021 and opened the outreach center in May 2023.
The facility featured interactive exhibits, including a live invertebrate touch tank, and some video views of sea life, but the center received mixed reviews from visitors.
The pier closed in 2024, after hurricanes Helene and Milton destroyed the 800-foot walkway to the T-end.
The remainder of the walkway was demolished, but the city hired Gibsonton-based Tampa Bay Marine to rebuild it using more durable materials, like solid concrete pilings.
The rebuild began in November 2025 and many of the piles have been driven into the seabed.
Mayor Mark Short has expressed hope to reopen the pier this fall.
However, it was unclear if the pier’s previous tenants — Mote and GSM Partners LLC, which operated the City Pier Grill & Bait Shop — would return when it reopens.
While Brian Seymour of GSM Partners called for the renegotiation of their lease terms before they decide whether to extend the agreement, there had been no sign from Mote about its potential return to the pier until now.
Short said he had been in discussions with Mote and Manatee County officials for “several months” and had reached a mutual agreement to terminate Mote’s lease.
“We are all in mutual agreement that it makes sense to terminate the Mote lease,” he said.
Short said that if city commissioners voted to terminate the lease, the agreement would be sent back to Mote for a countersignature to seal the deal.
He added that the city would hold a public meeting to solicit input about how the vacancy should be addressed.
When Commission Chair Charlie Salem called for a motion to terminate Mote’s lease, Commissioner Gary McMullen — who has expressed dissatisfaction with the outreach center — said he was happy to do so.
McMullen moved to terminate the lease. Commissioner Christopher Arendt seconded the motion, and it passed.
There was no public comment.
In other matters…
City commissioners on Jan. 8 also:
- Unanimously voted to approve a consent agenda that included an interlocal agreement with Manatee County for $2,000,000 in funding for the city pier rebuild project, as well as an agreement with attorney Gerald Buhr for special magistrate services;
- Unanimously voted to adopt an emergency ordinance to allow repairs to seawalls.
The city commission will meet next at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, at city hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.