Pacific Beach’s Crystal Pier fully reopens for first time in 18 months

No additional construction is planned for the Crystal Pier but the City will continue to monitor the -year-old structure s condition File photo by Thomas Melville Beach Bay Press The Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach has been fully reopened eighteen months after the populace portion of the pier closed in December due to damage from several storms The shuttered portion which was beyond the Crystal Pier Hotel underwent extensive stabilization work The iconic Crystal Pier will once again be open to the community thanks to the collaborative and dedicated efforts of city staff and Bill and Claudia Allen from the Crystal Pier Hotel mentioned San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava While the pier is open and structurally sound work will continue to strengthen its resilience against rising tides and increasingly intense storms The first phase of exigency construction work on the nearly century-old pier began in January when crews replaced dozens of damaged or broken braces supporting the wooden structure Those repairs were completed in May While that work was underway choppy waves damaged or broke eight of the pier piles A second phase of emergency work to repair or replace those piles began in late and finished in March Following the completion of that exigency construction crews shifted their focus to non-emergency work to repair and replace remaining braces that were damaged All of the above work was focused on the publicly-owned portions of the pier The easternmost half of the wider section of the pier is owned by the Crystal Pier Hotel and any repairs in that section are the responsibility of the property owner According to the city the cost was million No additional construction is at present planned for the pier but staff will continue to monitor the structure for any future damage