Frances Robustelli, City Manager, City of St. Pete Beach

June 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Frances Robustelli, city manager of St. Pete Beach, discussed the city’s recovery, redevelopment momentum, and long-term focus on infrastructure and resilience. “When developers see cities investing back in themselves, that is an attraction in itself,” Robustelli said.

What have been the most significant changes in St. Pete Beach over the past 12 months?

The most significant change has been the increase in redevelopment across the city. Hurricanes Helene and Milton definitely expedited the reinvention of the beach island and the reinvestment in older structures, as well as in some of our retail areas.

We are in a period of renaissance growth. There is quite a bit of construction going on, and we have had to increase our permit bandwidth significantly to prepare for that. We have also been spending a lot of time reinventing the way we process applications and sending the message that we are here to expedite the desire to repair or reinvest in residential and commercial properties.

We want to be a partner with developers and residents as they rebuild after what was a devastating storm. There is a lot of construction going on across the island.

How is the city approaching crisis management and resilience planning?

Resilience and building back better have been a theme and really the policy of the commission. In everything we are doing, we are looking at whether there is a way to build it back so it can sustain the weather patterns we expect. It is not a question of if it happens. We know we live in hurricane country, so the question is whether we can be better prepared. We have also been doing quite a bit of staff succession planning, reviewing the organization and identifying any single points of failure.

For small organizations, those points of failure are more prevalent than in larger organizations, so we have been looking at opportunities to cross-train and bolster our partnerships with the private sector in the event that we need to respond in a similar way to what occurred two years ago.

The city also did a lot of smart long-term planning through a major comprehensive plan revision about 15 years ago. After that revision, the city went into a period of very little growth and investment. Now, with the storms, that growth has accelerated on a very steep curve.

That has given us a chance to revisit the comprehensive plan and start implementing some of those policies. The comprehensive plan for the island was very focused on resilience and building back in a way that creates long-term sustainability.

How is the city working with developers and private sector partners?

We have some really interesting projects coming through the pipeline. Last year, we approved a project with about 135 luxury condos and mixed-use retail on the ground floor. The developer is still looking to secure the retail portion, and it will be on the sunrise side of our downtown corridor. We are excited about that development.

We have put in place quite a bit of feedback, meetings with staff, preparation, and assistance for those interested in community outreach. We have a very engaged community. We are a smaller city of about 9,000 residents, so anything that gets built here is very noticeable. That means there has to be a lot of partnership.

We are also working on a comprehensive plan update related to zoning on what I call the sunset side of our downtown Corey Avenue corridor. There will be some interesting opportunities for development there. We are looking for residential mixed-use projects. We already have a lively restaurant and bar scene on the sunset side of Corey Avenue, and those areas will be major catalysts for revitalizing the downtown.

The commission also recently approved a private marina redevelopment with more than 70 boat slips, some of them catering to larger yachts. That is on the north side of the island, with access from the Intracoastal Waterway.

We are also looking for a partner to help us revitalize our historic Merry Pier on the south side of the island. There are some exciting opportunities to bring waterway transportation to life on this barrier island. 

How is St. Pete Beach preserving its character while encouraging redevelopment?

We have a very active historic preservation board, which is a five-member board appointed by our commission. We also have historic Pass-a-Grille, which has a special overlay that protects the historic nature of the area and any sites that have been deemed historic.

We have a very cool, small beach charm. We have two public beaches, one on the north side and one on the south side, and they each have a very different feel. There is neighborhood pride in preserving that.

Our comprehensive plan also provided opportunities to maintain density. We do not have height allowances that would create opportunities to build 20-story high-rises. When the comprehensive plan was developed, height restrictions helped control and preserve that charm.

We do have multiple-story buildings in the larger tourism district in the center of the island, so the planning has contained where height is allowed and where historic buildings and the charm of those areas will be preserved. You can see that evolution of personality as you drive the few miles from north to south on the island.

What are the biggest trends shaping St. Pete Beach today?

From an economic development standpoint, and you will probably hear this throughout the Pinellas County area, we had the highest tourism activity on record for January and February.

That is a signal that we are beyond recovery. People see us as an opportunity. The fear of the storms and flooding hurt us the year after the hurricanes. People wondered why they should go to St. Pete Beach and whether there was anything here after the devastation.

The numbers from the first quarter of 2026 showed that is absolutely not true. Everyone is back, and we are back on the map. We are very excited about that.

I think we will see that continue to trend upward. The challenge, as it is for all beach towns, will be managing residents’ quality of life with tourism. When your population doubles every day during peak season, you have to figure out how to manage that in a sustainable and respectful way.

I am also hearing from small businesses that are open that they had one of their best spring breaks. Those numbers have not necessarily come in yet, but during the March and April timeframe, our small businesses performed very well and saw successful numbers they had not seen in the past.

What gives you the most confidence about the city’s future, and what are your top priorities?

The No. 1 priority is infrastructure. The reason that is so important for economic development is that, if I were a developer, I would want to know I was coming into a city with solid infrastructure around wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water.

These are the things that may sound like the boring parts of what cities do, but this basic infrastructure allows us to preserve what we have. We have quite a bit of investment in infrastructure right now, and that will continue for probably the next decade.

When developers see cities investing back in themselves, that is an attraction in itself. They know those cities are well-run, responsible, forward-looking, and not delaying important maintenance, repairs, and reinvestment.

We have been aggressively seeking funding partnerships with the state, federal government, and county to find ways to fund that work. We are also working with residents on education around the importance of investing in infrastructure. It may not be the most exciting part of government, but it is essential. It is what keeps a city alive.

For us, it is going to be infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. That is also signaling to people that we are investing in ourselves. We also want responsible people who want to be good neighbors and invest here as well.