PASS-A-GRILLE — From up high on the rooftop of the Berkeley Beach Club hotel, it’s easy to forget about the destruction below.
Tops of buildings glisten in the sunlight, while the Pass-a-Grille Channel dazzles a dreamy turquoise blue. Locals and tourists toast cocktails at sunset.
But a few floors down it’s a different scene, with destroyed buildings and ever-present construction crews serving as a reminder of the catastrophic damage incurred during last year’s back-to-back hurricanes.
At the Dewey, on the bottom floor of the Berkeley Beach Club, an empty dining room with gutted walls sits unfinished — evidence of the four feet of floodwater that surged into the building during Hurricane Helene. A couple doors down, the barebones facade of The Seahorse restaurant shows the brutal extent of the storm’s wrath on the 88-year-old structure. The owners haven’t begun to rebuild.
It’s been six months since storms forged a violent path across the region, and Pinellas County beach towns are struggling to come back to life. The local hospitality industry, which relies heavily on tourism, has been kneecapped. Several big hotels — including the iconic Don CeSar — remain closed, and snowbirds have been slow to return, many having lost their part-time homes.
But there’s room for cautious optimism. Some restaurants and hotels are reopening, and tourism appears to be making a gradual comeback. There’s a checkerboard effect out here, with patrons sipping margaritas and eating grouper sandwiches next to destroyed buildings and active construction sites. Every day now, it seems another restaurant announces they won’t reopen, while a new spot emerges.
Starting over
On a recent Friday afternoon, the bar at The Helm was abuzz with regulars.
A bouquet of flowers sat on the counter, a note of congratulations poking out between peach-colored roses and daisies.
“We’re back, baby!” the card read. “The Helm 2.0.”
The well-wishing, from a pair of longtime patrons, echoed the jovial mood in the dining room during the restaurant’s first service in nearly six months.
More than three feet of water flooded the St. Pete Beach space and washed away chairs, tables and kitchen appliances during Hurricane Helene.
Owners Heidi and Michael Butler had to replace 90% of their equipment. They didn’t get the Small Business Administration loan they’d hoped for, and being out of business for months cost more than $200,000. They ended up closing another restaurant they own in Greenville, South Carolina.
But with help from family members and friends, they reopened their St. Pete Beach spot last month. And business came roaring back.
“Last night was the first night I’ve slept in months,” Michael Butler said on the eatery’s opening day. “It feels good to be bringing in revenue again.”
During the inaugural service, diners tipped back oyster shooters and sipped champagne. They exchanged friendly banter with bartenders while dining on salmon nicoise salads and crab cake sandwiches. They hugged and laughed, catching up on lost time.
There’s still a lot of uncertainty, Heidi Butler said. When will the beach feel normal again? Will business be good enough to sustain their restaurant? What happens if there’s another storm?
The Butlers know that while it may not always feel like it, they are among the lucky ones.
A few blocks away, on the corner of 75th Avenue and Sunset Way, several restaurants are surrounded by boarded-up homes. Two restaurants are open — Buoys and the Oyster Shucker — while another, The Toasted Monkey, remains closed downstairs (though the spot has reopened its rooftop bar). Nearby Willy’s Burger remains closed indefinitely, while the empty shell of Woody’s Waterfront sits vacant with a “For Sale” sign out front. After 35 years, the owners decided it was too costly to stay and rebuild.
Many beach institutions have yet to reopen, including Mahuffer’s in Indian Shores and Treasure Island’s Waffle House, whose owners have no timeline to return.
Some restaurants, including VIP Mexican in Treasure Island and Caddy’s in Sunset Beach, have set up food trucks and tents while they work to rebuild.
Florida’s balmy spring weather is beckoning, and hospitality workers and restaurant owners hope the coming months will help them recoup some of their financial losses.
Grace restaurant, just up the block from the Dewey in Pass-a-Grille, reopened following a brief hiatus for renovations, and over on the beach, Paradise Grille welcomed guests after a full remodel. Both owners said their restaurants have been busy.
“The amount of people — they’re coming at a record pace,” said Paradise Grille owner Mike Janecek. “We always call Valentine’s Day the ‘light switch’ moment. This year, Valentine’s Day was the busiest day we’ve ever had, in 16 years.”
Over at Sola Bistro in St. Pete Beach, owner Tig Khachaturyan echoed the sentiment.
“When the cold weather finally broke, it was like a flood of people coming to the beach,” he said.
Khachaturyan’s restaurant was mostly spared during the storms — no flooding from Helene, no major wind damage from Milton. But the restaurant closed for several weeks and business was initially slow to return. Local support kept the restaurant afloat, and business has picked up in recent weeks, Khachaturyan said. But the absence of tourists and snowbirds is palpable, he said.
“I’m waiting for the Don CeSar to reopen,” Khachaturyan said. “It’s just symbolic. When it’s closed and you see all this work getting done, it’s just depressing.”
The Don CeSar has targeted March 26 for a “phased reopening.” But the Beachcomber and the Bellwether Beach Resort, two staple St. Pete Beach hotels, won’t reopen until summer, meaning that more than 100 employees furloughed since the storms won’t have jobs for several more months. (Some displaced hospitality workers are still waiting for state unemployment aid.)
Long road ahead
Everything from permitting lags and construction setbacks to disputes over federal assistance have stymied the rebuilding process, said Dannette Lynch, a regional director of membership for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.
With significantly older structures, there’s an added conundrum, Lynch said: the loss of historic character, and the question of what rebuilding entails amid intensifying Gulf storms.
“How do you keep your uniqueness of who you are, your reputation, your history … and still rebuild?” she said.
The restaurant association’s Disaster Relief Fund has distributed roughly $115,000 in grants to businesses after Hurricane Helene — $50,000 of which was allocated for Pinellas restaurants and lodging establishments, said Ashley Chambers, a spokesperson for the organization.
The Seahorse in Pass-a-Grille received a loan from the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program and a grant from the Small Business Administration for equipment and to cover inventory loss, said owner Anayeri Gomez.
It’s helped with the financial setbacks incurred during the restaurant’s prolonged closure, but Gomez said it will likely take many more months before the restaurant can reopen.
The building, which was constructed in 1936 and hosted soldiers stationed nearby during World War II, suffered extensive damage from six feet of floodwater during Hurricane Helene.
“It took everything,” Gomez said. “Walls, booths, the kitchen — we’re essentially rebuilding the entire front of the restaurant.”
Gomez, 37, who together with her husband, Carlos Calvillo, purchased the restaurant from longtime owners Carl and Jacqueline Hollenback three years ago, said she’s hopeful the restaurant will reopen by fall. The Hollenbacks still own the building and recently petitioned for historic designation, which was approved.
At the Berkeley Beach Club, owner Maryann Ferenc offered hotel guests a discounted rate. But the restaurant downstairs remains closed while she appeals a decision from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that denied her claim.
Ferenc tried to keep her staff employed, both at the hotel and by making room at her Tampa restaurant, Mise en Place. But she’s concerned about what the future of the industry holds.
“You can’t have this many people out of work at the same time. Everything’s stressed — this is not sustainable.”
There’s been a significant push to usher people back to the beach, both from locals and tourism marketing agencies like Visit St. Pete-Clearwater. But Ferenc said it’s a mixed bag when you beckon back tourism without being fully ready. Visitors could be expecting paradise and surprised to see the remnants of so much devastation.
“I think they need to come here,” she said. “But you have to be careful. Tourism for Florida is a long-term, not a short-term game.”
