An expansion of St. Petersburg’s Dali Museum received a boost this morning with the approval of funding by Pinellas County’s Board of County Commissioners.

In May, the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council (TDC) gave its blessing to use $34 million in Tourist Development Taxes (TDT) for a major expansion of the Salvador Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg. The preliminary approval by the TDC required final approval of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners.

County staff recommended partially funding the request with $25.2 million, an increase of $7.7 million from a prior funding commitment of $17.5 million the museum originally submitted in 2019.

However, the approved funding by the County Commissioners was below the museum’s $34 million recommendation from the Tourist Development Council.

County Commission obliged with staff’s recommendations and approved $25.2 million for the expansion with the caveat that the Dali Museum could come back later for the $8.8 million balance, to get to the museum’s $34 million request once the county resolves other funding commitments.

Although the Dali Museum is an iconic, world-class attraction beloved by tourists and locals alike, the facility is competing with several other prominent entities for bed tax dollars. Chief among them is the Tampa Bay Rays — the team is seeking public money for a new baseball stadium to replace Tropicana Field.

Pinellas County beach renourishment projects, meanwhile, have ground to a halt because of lack of funds, and Board of County Commissioners recently floated the idea of dipping into the bed tax reservoir to close that gap. Twenty-one of the county’s 35 miles of Pinellas beaches need renourishment, according to the county’s Public Works Department.

Despite this, Pinellas County Commission partially approved the Dali Museum’s funding request, allowing the expansion plans to move forward.

The museum originally revealed expansion plans in 2019 with plans to construct 30,000 square feet of new programing space along with a 270-space parking garage. That expansion project never got off the ground, however, and subsequently was not included in the county budget.  

Between 2019 and 2023, the museum revised the scope of its expansion proposal and removed the parking garage and expanded the proposed exhibition space.  

That revision and delay came with a cost. The original expansion was expected to cost $37 million, with $17.5 million being funded with TDC funds.  

Under the revised expansion plan, released this year, the costs have increased to $68 million.

As a result, the Dali Museum requested additional TDC funding to cover the increased budget.

In last year’s St. Petersburg general election, voters approved a referendum question that allowed the City of St. Petersburg to amend its 99-year lease with the museum, clearing the way for the facility move ahead with its revised multi-phase expansion plan.

The revised expansion plans call for the construction of a multi-level addition to the southwest side of the existing building that would include at least 40,000 square feet of expanded exhibit space, virtual reality and artificial intelligence displays, event space, and a full-service restaurant and terrace overlooking the downtown yacht basin. 

The first phase of the project is highlighted by the construction of a semi-permanent dome structure on the museum’s existing property. The 2,400-square-foot building will provide additional education and community space. The semi-permanent dome opens this week.

The second phase would be a permanent expansion of the institution’s existing building to accommodate more exhibit, educational, and community space.

A preliminary construction timeline for the permanent expansion states that construction would begin in October 2024 with an opening in November 2026.

With $25.2 million in TDC funding approved, the Dali Museum will seek private donations and potentially a loan to fund the remainder of the project. Once Pinellas County determines other funding commitments, they may go back for the remaining $8.8 million in TDC funds, if available.

Based on Dali Museum estimates, the expansion is estimated to generate approximately 111,400 new attendees in Year 1, increasing by 13.8% to 126,800 in Year 2 and increasing annually by 1.2% to 1.4% throughout the remainder of the 10-year estimation period. 

The total number of incremental attendees is estimated to be nearly 1.32 million over the first 10 years after expansion.