Clearwater Harbor Marina is beginning a long road to recovery following damage from back-to-back hurricanes last year. The City Council has approved a work order to kick off the design phase for critical repairs at the marina’s North Basin.

“During the storm, a sailboat came through and hit that bridge,” Mike MacDonald, Director of Marine & Aviation for the City of Clearwater, told Bay News 9. “It sank right in the middle of the harbor. We had to remove the sailboat, and now we need to repair the bridge it struck.”

But the damage doesn’t stop there.

“In addition to the bridge, we have to replace tension cables along a 700-foot stretch of dock,” MacDonald said. “We’ll also replace cables on the main dock and the last dock at the end.”

As storm season approaches, temporary measures are being taken to secure the marina.

“We’re going to chain the dock sections together to hold them through hurricane season while designs are completed,” MacDonald explained. The engineering firm has 180 days to deliver those designs before the project moves into the bidding and construction phases.

At Clearwater Beach Marina, work is progressing despite previous setbacks caused by Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

“The entire marina is being replaced—new seawall, dredging for better boat access—it’s a full rebuild,” said Jon Dubois, Project Manager with Kokolakis Contracting.

Initial delays forced the team to focus on emergency safety repairs, but now the project is back on track.

“Our first major milestone—installing the new sheet pile for the seawall—was completed a few weeks ago,” Dubois said. “Dredging is now underway.”

The full rebuild is expected to be completed by summer 2026.

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(Image credit: Melissa Eichman/Spectrum News)

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