Thrive
$64.5 million Imagine Clearwater waterfront park ready to break ground
Imagine Clearwater, the $64.5 million transformation of Coachman Park into a 24-acre urban waterfront park development, came one step closer to reality today with the release of design and construction documents – renderings – from Stantec, the firm responsible for re-making Tampa’s Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park and Water Street Tampa.
“Imagine Clearwater,” said Mayor Frank Hibbard in a prepared statement, “is a generational project, one that we believe will serve Clearwater families and guests for decades to come. Finally, we will be taking full advantage of our unique downtown waterfront.”
Designed to connect the waterfront and the downtown community, Imagine Clearwater includes an expansive park and recreational spaces, a gateway plaza and bluff walk that connects the park to downtown, a bay walk promenade overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, and a lake area with picnic shelters.
The reduced parking area and addition of ride share drop-off areas aim to reduce vehicular traffic and promote walkability and the use of public transportation. To bring he local art community inside the envelope, Stantec will incorporate spaces throughout to provide the a blank canvas for featuring art installations that showcase the community and its culture.
The additions to Coachman Park also include an outdoor performance bandshell and stage with covered seating for 4,000.
Said Hamid Sahebkar, Stantec principal and project manager for Imagine Clearwater: “The Imagine Clearwater project illustrates how important parks like this are to our communities. We look forward to our continued work with the city in seeing this vision for Coachman Park come to fruition.”
The groundbreaking ceremony for Imagine Clearwater will take place at 9 a.m. Monday, May 24.
Andrei
April 17, 2022at12:08 pm
Excellent project, it will bring even more beauty and value for that area. CW is getting better over the years!
Juli
May 28, 2021at8:09 pm
We live within walking distance to this park. They don’t say in this article where parking will be relocated to, but it’ll be where the existing bus station is, and nearby the bluffs. There’s also a parking garage nearby!
For those of you who are whining about it being “for Scientologists”, you clearly aren’t familiar with the area! This is close to prestigious Harbor Oaks, Belleair, Belleair Bluffs, Dunedin & many other neighborhoods! We’ve been there 13 years and it just keeps getting better, and so is our property value 🙂
James ALEXANDER
May 23, 2021at2:26 pm
How about 20 baseball fields & 20 soccer fields instead
Patrick Sullivan
May 23, 2021at12:02 am
Sandi I couldn’t of said it better myself I laughed when I read that they’re gonna dump millions of dollars into a waterpark literally feet from the Gulf Beaches.build,build,build that’s all they wanna do nevermind the birds and wildlife that are being run outta there natural habitat this is just sad and breaks my heart this place has been my home for a life time.
Roe Darby
May 22, 2021at8:48 pm
The guy on the beginning of this post how much is Scientology involved in this. They have taken over all of that area down there are you kidding me all the streets you can’t get in nowhere. They have taken that whole area over a long time ago.
Arianna Turner
May 22, 2021at8:06 am
What will you do to keep the homeless from gathering… Recently them & what comes along with them has definitely effected my family visits to the Marina. The come from the pink church by the city hall building & gather @ that abandon building, by the tennis courts & the lawn under the bridge near paid parking. That 7 eleven near there off court is another area I can’t visit with the harassment from the homeless community.
Sandi
May 22, 2021at7:40 am
Do we have to take every piece of land in Florida and build on it? We don’t need a water park, Clearwater is on the Gulf of Mexico and there are swimming pools everywhere. Counties in Florida should be more concerned about preserving land for wildlife and cleaning up the trash that’s everywhere.
Erics
May 22, 2021at1:34 am
Is it just me. Or, are we building more things on waterfronts that sea level rise will likely destroy sooner, instead of investing money in infrastructure that better serves our communities later? Only one Cat 3+ is needed to damage or destroy these multimillion dollar projects, whereas, better public transportation and greener off site parking with electric shuttles to the beaches can cost half as much and can last for lifetimes. Stop building on the gulf fronts. Then, maybe our insurance costs will come down, our beaches and water will be cleaner, and our communities will benefit more. Just a suggestion.
Lesha
May 22, 2021at12:37 am
We need a boardwalk with games you’d find on famous boardwalk on beaches. A waterpark? How ridiculous, we have enough water on beaches & waterparks in Orlando. There is no boardwalk I know of the Gulf Coast
Cate
May 21, 2021at6:53 pm
Where’s nearest parking area ? Drop off taxi and Uber space and bus stops?
Christina Martinez
May 21, 2021at6:04 pm
No you can’t do that there’s history here. Ever since I was a little girl we’ve been going there to watch the fireworks ,Cinco de Mayo, Easter hunts, concerts. And a lot more history. I can’t imagine a 4th of July without Coachman Park.
Tom
May 21, 2021at4:55 pm
I am not a Scientologist but I can tell you I’m 62 years old and before the Scientologist came downtown to Clearwater there was one hotel it was considered to be demolished and the rest of the town was just an excuse you had to drive through to get to the beach
Jenna
May 21, 2021at1:35 pm
So they’re not going to have parking? This is clearly an advantage for scientologists to get their own urban park. We need parking so we can have access to use these amenities our tax paying dollars are going towards! Frank Hubbard, c’mon man.
Lis
May 21, 2021at11:20 am
Exactly lol
Brian
May 21, 2021at10:31 am
We still have open ditches in our neighborhood and major infrastructure issues, but lets spend $65 million on a park instead…
Matt Karouz
May 20, 2021at7:39 pm
How much do the scientologist play in this rebuilding