Battered by storms but still in good condition, the Imperial Beach Pier will receive two missing pilings next week as a construction crew begins $2.6 million in repairs to ensure the southernmost pier in California can stand for decades.

Reyes Construction Inc., which was hired by the Port of San Diego last October, will begin the maintenance project Monday.

The most labor-intensive repairs are expected to take place Wednesday through Friday, weather permitting. The pier will be completely closed to the public on those days as crews install two wooden piles using a helicopter for positioning.

Repair work will extend until summer 2025, with only partial dock closures expected for most repairs. Future deck plank replacement work and utility piping work may, however, require full temporary closures of the docks, the port said in a press release.

First built in the 1960s and rebuilt in the 1980s, the nearly 1,500-foot-long Imperial Beach Pier has been managed by the Port of San Diego since 1991.

The agency, in 2021 and 2022, spent millions to aesthetic improvements to the city’s waterfront attraction, including adding an artistic shade structure and distance markers. The pier’s three structures – the Tin Fish restaurant, lifeguard tower and public toilets – were also repainted and repaired.

Today, the agency is embarking on a list of corrective and preventative maintenance needs, most of which were first identified in a 2018 condition assessment report.

Last year, the port hired Reyes Construction to repair utility piping under the pier, replace two piles that have been washed out to sea over the years and replace corroded electrical panels in the pier’s electrical room. Since then, the company has been scrambling to secure materials for the project, with delays in the supply chain impacting the schedule.

The replacement piles in question, which arrived last week, are redundant in nature, said Jesus Puebla, engineering and construction project manager at the port.

In September 2021, the Imperial Beach Pier was closed for five days after a stake broke loose and was seen floating in the ocean. However, the agency determined at the time that the missing piles did not affect the structural integrity of the pier.