The Clearwater Beach Marina Rebuilt Its Coronado Drive Side First. The Fishing Docks Come Last.

On September 29, the City of Clearwater unveiled "Ketch," a mosaic sculpture by Nevada artist Eileen Gay, along the new Marina Walk at the Clearwater Beach Marina. Amber Bridal, the city's Arts and Cultural Affairs manager, told the Public Art and Design Board that city staff, members of the public and elected officials attended, and that the piece includes a nationally registered geocache medallion, as Citizen Portal reported from that October 8 meeting.

The ceremony took place on a marina that was still being built. The city's own marina page says the new fuel dock "is not operational at this time" and that a temporary fuel dock is being installed. The public art, the walkway and the tour-boat slips along Coronado Drive came first. The commercial fishing boats and the fuel line are finishing last. That order was a deliberate choice, and it tells you how to use 25 Causeway Blvd. right now.

Why the Coronado Drive slips came first

The city split the job into two phases so the commercial fleet could keep running. Mike MacDonald, director of the city's Marine and Aviation Department, explained the approach to Bay News 9 in April: "We did it in two phases so the commercial fleet can remain operational."

Phase 1 tore out and rebuilt the west side of the marina. During that work, the tourism boats moved to the far side, away from Coronado Drive, and Bay News 9 reported that foot traffic dropped. Trisha Rodriguez owns The Tropics Boat Tours and chairs the Clearwater Beach Marina Tenants Association, which formed when construction began. She told the station that the move "made it challenging for people to know where we were and that we were open."

For a marina that sells dolphin cruises to people walking by, the Coronado Drive frontage is where the money comes from. Sea Screamer, Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise, Little Toot and the rest of the sightseeing fleet depend on being seen. By spring, tourism boats were back in new slips along Coronado Drive, in time for spring break. The Tropics' captain, Kayla Bennett, told Bay News 9 that the new slip is easier to work: "On this side of the bridge there's less current and we're kind of blocked by these buildings. So just from a captain's perspective, pulling into this slip is a lot better."

The fishing boats and dinner boats rely less on walk-up traffic, and they were the ones moved to temporary docks. The city says they stayed fully operational the whole time, reachable from the floating docks.

What $46 million bought: the same marina, built higher

The project has a $46 million price tag, and about $13 million of it is covered by grants, according to Bay News 9. The city's project page lists three grants:

• $7.85 million in Pinellas County tourist tax dollars for the commercial area of the marina
• $4 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for resiliency improvements
• $1.7 million from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

The marina did not get any bigger. The final design keeps the same number of slips and the same mix of slip sizes. The money went into height and layout:

1. Fixed docks and gangway platforms were raised 15 to 24 inches to allow for rising water levels.
2. The bulkhead cap was raised 15 to 18 inches to meet the minimum cap height.
3. Commercial boats sit on fixed docks around the outer edge, and non-commercial users get floating docks that rise and fall with the tide.
4. Ticket kiosks were moved up onto land near the main dock entrances, one of several changes meant to reduce congestion along Coronado Drive.
5. The Marina Walk extends the Beach Walk with shade and seating.

Rodriguez told Bay News 9 why the height mattered to tenants: "All of our docks were a lot lower. So, when the water would come in or we would have bad weather, the electricity would go out." On the west side, the station reported, the seawall was raised by 18 inches.

The design also includes two slips for water taxis. That matters for the ferry, which comes up below.

Where each piece stands in late October

Construction began in September 2024. The city's timeline now lists October 2026 as substantial completion and attributes the delay to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, late material deliveries and fabrication, and the critical-path electrical work that followed. Some city pages still say "August 2026," which was the earlier target.

The last stretch belongs to the working boats

The final items on the list serve boats that leave at dawn and come back with fish. At the city's Marine Advisory Board meeting on September 9, Kelly Petrich, engineering division manager for Clearwater Public Works, said the remaining work was a fuel line and electrical conduit on Dock A plus two catwalk extensions for the Queen Fleet and Double Eagle vessels, according to Citizen Portal's summary. She said the work was scheduled to finish by the end of September, and city staff set a ribbon-cutting window of late October or early November. The project page still lists handrails, framing, utility work and fuel dock connections as ongoing.

The marina's fishing operators include Queen Fleet, Double Eagle Deep Sea Fishing, Gulfstream, Salt Cracker Charters and Reel Deal Sportfishing, and its dinner cruises are Calypso Queen, StarLite Majesty and Yacht StarShip. On its latest page, the city says the fishing fleet and dinner boats are running from temporary locations along the floating docks. If you've booked a trip, confirm the boarding dock with the operator before you go.

If you keep a boat on the barrier island or Island Estates, the fuel dock matters most. Until the new one opens, the city's page says only that a temporary fuel dock is being installed. There are also no transient or day docks, so you can't tie up for lunch.

Getting there without the marina lot

The city says construction has cut the number of spaces in the marina parking lot. Marina customers can still park there or use the other public lots and garages on the beach, and a temporary lot on Memorial Causeway is set aside for construction crews and marina employees.

For anyone coming from downtown or Dunedin, PSTA's Clearwater Ferry is the simplest option. It runs Thursday through Sunday, stopping at downtown Clearwater, the Clearwater Beach Marina near Pier 60, and Dunedin Marina. Reservations are encouraged, and walk-ons are welcome when there's room. Fares went up by $1 on September 17, 2026. A ferry ride from Cleveland Street to the marina, a walk past "Ketch," and dinner at Crabby's Dockside or Marina Cantina makes an easy evening with no parking involved.

Some things didn't change in the rebuild. The city still lists a free fishing pier, round-the-clock security and open access to the Gulf with no drawbridge in the way. The tenant directory still includes the small businesses that serve the docks: Bar Tiki, Salt Cracker Fish, Roundabout Pizza, Cool Cookie, the Pirate's Pantry, the Marina Beach Shoppe and The Harbor Barber.

Residents who want a permanent slip can look up the rates on the city's marina slip fee page. Prices effective October 1, 2026 put recreational wet slips at $23 per foot per month for Clearwater residents and $25.30 for nonresidents. For a 30-foot boat, that works out to $690 a month for a resident and $759 for a nonresident. For slip availability, the city's Marine and Aviation Department lists (727) 562-4955, option 2.

The city raised its own seawall cap 15 to 18 inches to meet the minimum cap height, and many waterfront owners in Clearwater are asking the same question about their own seawalls and docks. If you're weighing a dock repair, a seawall upgrade or a sale where those details will come up with buyers, Melissa Hoglund can help you work out what to address before listing and which permitting questions to raise early. Schedule a Free Consultation.