The St. Petersburg City Council approved funding Thursday for construction of the St. Petersburg Pier.

The council signed the check for the construction of the pier and the pier approach, voting unanimously to allocate what's left of the $50 million (minus the $4 million spent on The Lens) to build the new pier and $20 million for the pier approach.

During the meeting, the council passed resolutions approving funding, as well as the schematic design of the new Pier.

Demolition began last fall on the inverted pyramid, an iconic image along the St. Petersburg waterfront for 40 years.

"Today's vote was another important step forward towards a new St. Pete Pier," said Mayor Rick Kriseman. "I thank City Council for their continued support and their confidence in this process."

The Pier design team is a partnership between ASD Architects, Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers and Ken Smith Landscape Architects. The Pier Approach design team is a partnership between W Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Wannemacher Jensen Architects.

Groundbreaking on the new St. Pete Pier is slated for early 2017 with the facility scheduled to open in fall 2018.