ANNA MARIA – Barring any unforeseen circumstances, The City Pier Grill is still on track to open on Friday, Nov. 20.
Also featuring a bait shop, The City Pier Grill will be operated by GSM Partners LLC, which consists of Brian Seymour, Nick Graham and Vic Mattay.
During the Thursday, Oct. 8 commission meeting, Seymour provided Mayor Dan Murphy and the city commissioners with an update on the interior buildout and equipment installations to come and a two-page printout of the working plan and timeline for the work taking place.
“While you don’t physically see much going on right yet, there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes to shorten our buildout time,” Seymour told the commission.
Seymour said the group is in the process of selecting a contractor to complete the interior buildout of the city-owned building the group is leasing.
Seymour said the selected contractor will then produce the mechanical drawings needed to obtain city-issued building permits that allow the buildout work to begin.
“I envision that within the next week or two that we would be submitting permit requests,” Seymour said.
Seymour said GSM Partners would like to use the currently vacant primary pier building as the staging area for the equipment to be installed in the smaller grill and bait shop building to the west, which he said would help shorten the construction timeline.
Murphy said he preferred this approach rather than hauling things out to the T-end of the pier on a daily basis and suggested storing all equipment, material and supplies in the primary building while the interior buildout of the City Pier Grill building takes place.
“I think it’s a good plan,” Murphy said.
“It does sound like a very reasonable solution to the wear and tear on people and equipment,” Commission Chair Carol Carter added later in the discussion.
Commissioner Mark Short said the staging area would alleviate the need for the contractor’s crew to set up and tear down each day, which in turn would make the process more efficient.
Looking further ahead, Seymour said when the time comes, GSM Partners will need the city planner to sign off on the group’s beer and wine sales license application – a use allowed by city code.
Seymour said GSM Partners anticipates hiring its general manager this week and has at least four qualified candidates to choose from. The general manager will then assist with the rest of the staffing decisions.
Seymour told the commission he’s heard from many people who are interested in working on the pier.
“We’re still shooting for Nov. 20,” Seymour said regarding the anticipated opening date for the City Pier Grill.
Seymour provided the commission with a draft version of The City Pier logo that also references the bait shop. The logo incorporates several birds, a dolphin and the latitude and longitude of the pier.
“The birds certainly are appropriate,” Murphy said.
Commissioner Jon Crane asked Seymour about the wi-fi installation scheduled for the following evening. Seymore said there would be a public wi-fi connection for the public to use and a private and secure connection for business purposes.
In conclusion, Seymour said, “We appreciate all your support and we’re looking forward to getting it done. We’re still working hard every day to make it happen.”
When The City Pier Grill opens, the new pier will be open seven days a week for the first time since the newly-built pier opened in June. The pier is currently open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only.
