CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Demolition is underway on Bob Hall Pier, but behind the scenes there is plenty of work being done to come up with a final deign for its replacement.
The cost of a new pier is set at $27 million.
Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney said that some of the initial planning calls for a restaurant on the first and second floor. He said he's going to be looking to try to have that changed.
"I like more footage in the restaurant space on the first floor. I think it would be more efficient then going up. You wouldn't have to worry about ADA with elevators and sprinkler systems," Chesney said.
Chesney believes having the restaurant on the first floor would be more attractive to an investor.
"Whoever the vendor is that's gonna be a much more efficient space if it's all on one floor versus upstairs and downstairs. So I'm all on board at looking at that," Chesney said.
The county is using certificates of obligation and money from an insurance settlement from Hurricane Harvey to pay for the renovations. Chesney said his proposed change is going to raise the total costs of the project and he's looking to use federal ARPA dollars to cover the increase. The county had hoped that its Hurricane Hannah FEMA claim would be approved, and that money would be used to build a new Bob Hall Pier. The government denied the claim and have yet to hear anything regarding its appeal.
"Actually they never ruled on that appeal so we have come to a stalemate there," Canales said. "So we do not expect that Hurricane Hanna will receive federal FEMA public assistance, so that's the reason we did not get any dollars."
Chesney is hoping that his single floor restaurant proposal will be approved by his fellow commissioners in the near future because he believes it will be a good return on their investment.
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