CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Hurricanes have been Bob Hall Pier's downfall since it first tangled with Carla in 1961. Six years later, Beulah destroyed half of the pier. Celia only slightly damaged the structure in 1970, but in 1980, Allen proved just as destructive as Carla.
"The waves come in from the hurricane -- they're very big and they're very powerful waves," said Jacobs Engineering's Louis Klusmeyer, the project manager.
As Nueces County officials look to rebuild the emblematic pier after Hanna finally took it out in 2020, creating a resilient structure is at the top of its lists of "musts."
Renderings of the one-story, $21.7 million pier were released Wednesday and approved during the regularly-scheduled Nueces County Commissioners Court meeting.
"Pop-off panels" are just one of the amenities being built in to this version of the pier, designed to support the pier's sturdiness.
"The pop-off panels are . . . not connected to the framing at all, and then when the waves come in, the wave force hits those, picks them up, pops them off, leaving the structure there so the structure can survive."
The pier itself also will be 2 ft. higher.
"Previously, it was high at the restaurant, then reduced in height as it went out over the water," Klusmeyer said. "Now, we're looking at keeping it up as the same height of the restaurant and then going out flat after that, which keeps it a little further away from the waves."
The new pier also will be wider after receiving feedback from the community, Klusmeyer said. Whereas the previous incarnation of the pier was 14 ft. wide, this version is 20, which allows for fishing on both ends and easy access to walk between the anglers on both sides.
Wednesday was a big day for the county, said Pct. 4 commissioner Brent Chesney, and an exciting one for the project.
"Receiving the approval from the commissioners court today on the 30 percent concept means we can go forward quite quickly," Klusmeyer said.
Design phases
Thirty-percent design means that the engineers and architects involved in the project are essentially 30 percent complete with the whole design process, Klusmeyer said. Right now, layouts to components such as the restaurant are about 30 percent designed.
"Going beyond this, we would then be adding details to that," he said. "Next is the 60, and then a 90 and then a bid set of drawings."
Klusmeyer knows how important the pier is to the Corpus Christi area.
"It's an iconic structure here that I visited many times in the past, and I really hope to do it again in the future," he said. "Really, I'm very proud to be able to lead the design team to create a Bob Hall Pier."
3NEWS showed the renderings to Austin resident Monette Coleman, who said she and her husband usually visit the Padre Island area once a year. They were impressed.
"I thought it was gorgeous," she said. "I think it's gonna be a great change for the area and such an attraction for people to come and hang out on the pier and watch and listen to the waves. I can definitely see where people would want this to be alive again."
Details matter
Chesney, whose district houses Bob Hall Pier, is excited about the popular fishing spot's future, and some of the new amenities the county is looking to add to that detailed design phase.
"We did add some additional things on there to the pier, some shading and some seating, some cool signage, so I think we're on the right track," he said. "We definitely still have some issues to look at."
One of those issues concerns the building that houses Mikel May's restaurant, and its insurability.
"In the past, we've insured that building," Chesney said. "The pier's not insurable. It never has been -- it's over water. It's too expensive to insure, but that building was, and now they're raising the issue that we may not be able to get (insurance)."
In order to figure that situation out, commissioners have placed the restaurant space back on the agenda for next week's meeting in order to get more input.
"The commissioners court will have to make a business decision on whether they want to leave it as uninsured -- if that's what we have to do -- or if they want to move the building somewhere else and build it somewhere else," Chesney said. "You know, we'll see."
He said that point won't stop the pier's progress, however.
"Obviously we want to make sure this pier gets built as quickly as possible, in the best possible condition that it can be done, as well," Chesney said.