TAMPA - A plan to create public art out of an elevated walkway connecting the new Embassy Suites Hotel to the Tampa Convention Center is not going as smoothly as city officials or the developer had hoped.

The artist chosen for the project no longer wants anything to do with it, and with eight weeks to go before the hotel opens, the city has yet to see a final rendering of what the walkway art will look like.

"We would really like to see something," said Wilson Stair, Tampa's urban design manager. "We've seen construction drawings, but we don't have any idea how the final product will look."

Faced with a city ordinance requiring that a portion of their project's cost go toward public art, the developers settled on a novel idea: Turn the pedestrian bridge over Franklin Street into a very visible piece of art.

In February 2005, hotel developer and owner WPM Construction brought the concept to the Tampa City Council. Council members raised concerns about safety, while members of the city's art community wanted to make sure the art was a good fit for the adjoining buildings.

In the end, the concept was approved.

WPM hired New Orleans artist Mimi Moncier, who met with the developer and with city and convention center officials to present renderings of her vision of the project. They were rejected as impractical, and revisions were suggested.

In late September, citing differences over how the artwork should be developed, Moncier quit. Copies of her renderings were unavailable to The Tampa Tribune this week. The city said they returned them to the developer, and the developer did not return Tribune calls.

On Moncier's Web site are two renderings titled "Tampa Bridge Art Intervention Proposal" that show brightly colored plastic spirals, some affixed to the top of the walkway's sides. City officials said those renderings are not exactly what they were shown but are in the same artistic vein.

The city considered it interactive art and was concerned that people would play with the artwork. "People like to touch art, but interactive art wasn't really appropriate here," Stair said.

Moncier could not be reached by telephone, but in a brief e-mail to the Tribune she hinted at hard feelings.

"I left with a written agreement with the developer that my name would not be used in relation to whatever was built because I had nothing to do with it," Moncier wrote.

The 20-story, 360-room hotel was originally to open in June. Construction delays pushed that to September. Several weeks ago, the 31-ton, 158-foot-long concrete walkway was lifted into place.

Stair and Robin Nigh, Tampa's public art manager, said they expect several components of Moncier's concept to be incorporated, including a series of irregularly shaped translucent panels set in the walkway's sides. The walkway will also include a special lighting scheme, Stair said.

"The translucent panels are important and work well with the lighting plans for the project," Stair said.

The city, which has final say on the project, hopes the developer will soon have a final rendering of the new design.

The city's public art ordinance requires the developers of substantial construction projects to set aside money for public art. The amount depends on a project's value.

With a total value of more than $100 million, the Embassy Suites Hotel project was required to set aside $200,000.

Reporter Ken Killebrew can be reached at (813) 259-7827 or kkillebrew@tampatrib.com.