Pinellas commits $25 million to The Dali Museum expansion as other bed tax demands loom
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 1, 2023

Pinellas County will give The Dali Museum just over $25 million toward its proposed expansion — 74% of the museum’s ask of public funds — with the caveat that the museum could receive more once the county decides how it plans to tackle beach nourishment.

The Dali had asked for $34 million, and the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council supported that request in May. However, following staff recommendation, commissioners on Tuesday only committed to $25.16 million in a 5 to 2 vote, with commissioners Dave Eggers and Chris Latvala voting no. The $25 million is funded by the county’s hotel bed tax.

The remaining roughly $8.8 million can be requested later — once the county has finalized its plans on beach nourishment, which many at the dais said was their top priority. Of the 35 miles of beaches in Pinellas County, 21.4 miles are considered to be critically eroded by the state of Florida.

The county will soon be deciding whether to allocate bed tax funds toward projects like beach nourishment — which could cost $200 million — or funding projects like a Tampa Bay Rays stadium and a spring training facility for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Several commissioners expressed concerns about funding the Dali project now, knowing several other “big ticket items” were coming down the pipeline. Commissioner René Flowers, however, said the cost will only continue to rise as time passes. Rather than wait and risk the construction costs increasing again, she supported funding the expansion now.

“We have it, we need to do it and keep it moving,” Flowers said.

The expansion will create a space for “education, conferences, events, galleries and a restaurant and terrace overlooking the downtown yacht basin,” according to city of St. Petersburg documents. In total, the project is expected to cost $68 million, according to Hank Hine, executive director of the Dali Museum.

Hine told commissioners Tuesday that given the “obviously difficult situation,” he would accept the decision as a “very positive motion.” But he said that time has been “absolutely deleterious to everyone’s ability to gain their foothold in this recovery period.”

Prior to the pandemic, the Dali would see 400,000 to 450,000 annual visitors driving $155 million to $175 million of direct spending in the community, according to Hine. Those numbers have now dipped down to roughly 300,000 people. He said part of the drive behind revamping their proposal was to create a new asset that would “appeal to a broader demographic.”

“I don’t know how much longer we can sustain the interest of our immediate community,” Hine said. “When we ask you for $34 million, we’re talking about raising $34 million ourselves, $17.5 (million) of which we had ready before the pandemic. We have a strategy to raise that other, but without your full funding, it’s unlikely that we would be able to accomplish the same project.”

Hine said three-quarters of the total costs will go toward site preparation. If they must operate under a smaller budget, they will have to start making cuts. If they eliminate the education portion, he said the community suffers, but if they cut the interactive technology portion, it won’t attract as many visitors.

The Dali expansion has been in the works for years. In April 2019, commissioners approved funding $17.5 million for a former expansion plan from the museum. After the approval, however, an agreement with the Dali was never reached due to the changes brought on by the pandemic.

The current expansion plan includes building a multilevel addition southwest of the existing building. St. Petersburg voters threw their support behind the expansion via a referendum in November.