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Tower Construction Costs $700K for Caladesi Friends

Friends of the Island Parks officials said building an observation and interpretive facility on Caladesi Island is more complex and costly because of its location.

Cindy Farris is excited about plans to bring a 25-foot observation deck to Caladesi Island.

Farris, president of Friends of the Island Parks, told Dunedin city leaders May 16 that the group is close to naming a contractor for the project and fundraising efforts are going strong.

The proposed $700,000 Caladesi Discovery Center would provide a panoramic view and include hands-on exhibits in a planned interpretive facility on the popular barrier island. An additional $150,000 would be for educational exhibits.

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The expense of the project is due, in part, to the high cost of transporting materials and equipment to the remote project site, Farris said.

"It's not easy to build on the barrier island," she said.

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The group's first major fundraising effort — a March 14 banquet at Clearwater's Sandpearl Resort — raised $100,000, Farris said. 

The open-air, wooden structure would be built with an elevator shaft at the site of the old tower, which was torn down in the late 1980s.

"It had rusted to a point that it was no longer safe for park visitors to climb," Peter Krulder, state park manager, told Patch in April. 

Krudler hopes to have the project completed in 2014.

Caladesi was established as a state park in 1967. The island sees hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly, according to Friends of the Island Parks. It was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tocobaga Indians and was used as a fishing and hunting camp-over by European soldiers and settlers for centuries, the Island Friends explain.  

Caladesi Island State Park, accessible by boat or ferry, is one of Florida's last remaining underdeveloped barrier islands. It has a picnic area, a marina, a snack bar, gift shop, a three-mile nature trail and a three-mile kayak trail. 

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