Hollywood’s lifeguard stands soon to wow beachgoers
HOLLYWOOD Spiffy new lifeguard towers are finally in the pipeline for Hollywood beach.
The blue-and-white stands will cost millions, but Hollywood officials have managed to whittle the price from a high of $4.8 million all the way down to $2.1 million.
They haven’t skimped on style, either.
“The design is close to what we were looking at the first time, kind of iconic,” Commissioner Dick Blattner said of the artsy new towers. “These look great.”
To get the price down, they found a manufacturer that can build them for less, Blattner said.
Plans call for 21 new stands — 15 lifeguard towers and six firstaid stations with impact-resistant windows.
The towers will be made six at a time and should be all done by next summer, said Jorge Camejo, director of the Hollywood redevelopment agency that’s footing the bill for the new towers.
Beachgoers can look for the first two towers before the end of the year.
“They’re going to produce one lifeguard stand and one first-aid station as prototypes,” Blattner said. “They’ll put them on the beach and let the lifeguards use them to make sure they’re just what we want.”
Hollywood’s aging lifeguard towers — battered wooden huts that are more than two decades old — have seen better days.
The new towers will have an Art Deco design that’s easy on the eye and provides for better ventilation, Camejo said.
It’s about time, some say. Hollywood commissioners have been talking about ordering new lifeguard stands for more than a year, but things stalled when bids came back as high as $4.8 million — or $230,000 per tower.
The city asked for more bids, but the lowest came in at $3.8 million the second time around.
A recent debate last week prompted last-minute changes from the commission in an attempt to get the initial estimate of $2.4 million even lower.
“I came here today to vote against the lifeguard stands,” Commissioner Traci Callari said. “I think we can address other needs for $2.4 million.”
Commissioner Debra Case wanted to save money by switching from a curvy round design to a square one. Callari agreed.
Commissioner Kevin Biederman didn’t like the idea.
“To go with the square, it’s not giving us any uniqueness,” he said.
“That roundness gives better flow for the lifeguard to go back and forth.”
In the end, compromised.
The first-aid stations will have a round design and the 15 lifeguard towers will have a square design.
The new towers to last 30 years. the commission are expected