October 06, 2010 - --GALVESTON -- The Flagship Hotel, one of the few hotels built on a pier over the ocean, will be torn down and an amusement park built in its place if the Galveston City Council approves, city officials said today.

The Galveston Planning Commission unanimously gave its permission Tuesday for the restaurant chain to build an amusement park on the pier that will be called the "Pleasure Pier," according to city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill and a staff report.

The staff report says the hotel, badly damaged by Hurricane Ike in September 2008, will be torn down.

Landry's last year submitted plans to the Planning Commission for repairing the hotel and building an amusement park on the pier, but the plans approved Tuesday envision a larger amusement park without the hotel, according to the staff report.

Landry's officials were not immediately available for comment.

The original application called for a 110-foot high amusement ride, but the new application asks permission for a 225-foot ride. The application does not state whether it's a ferris wheel, roller coaster or other ride.

The pier was built in the 1940s as a ballroom, outdoor theater, snack bar and fishing pier. The Flagship Hotel was built in 1965 through leases with the then-city-owned pier and was eventually purchased by Landry's.

The pleasure pier proposal is scheduled to go before City Council Oct. 28.

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