Mary Margaret’s Olde Irish Tavern is planning a major increase in its downtown St. Petersburg footprint by taking over the neighboring space at 29 3rd Street North, currently occupied by Top Slice Pizzeria. St. Pete Rising reported that the project would add about 1,400 square feet to the tavern’s existing 1,600-square-foot space. The expansion remains a plan, not a completed project.
More than an extra row of tables
The proposed addition is designed as a second room with about 50 seats, a 12-seat bar, expanded patio seating and additional restrooms, according to St. Pete Rising’s report. Plans also call for space for dining and private events and an open-air bar facing 3rd Street North. That arrangement would give the tavern separate areas for televised games and live music instead of requiring both uses to share the original room.
A small project within a large visitor economy
The planned expansion comes within a county whose visitor economy remains substantial, although the broader figures do not measure Mary Margaret’s business or establish why it is expanding. Visit St. Pete-Clearwater’s FY25 visitor survey estimated that visitors generated $6.1 billion in direct spending and $10.2 billion in total economic impact in Pinellas County. Those are countywide estimates, not downtown or restaurant-specific measurements.
A different kind of restaurant-space change
The city has previously considered ways to give restaurants more room, but the closest documented comparison is materially different. In May 2020, during pandemic capacity restrictions, the Tampa Bay Times reported that St. Petersburg officials were considering temporary outdoor seating on roadways. Mary Margaret’s proposal is a permanent expansion into an adjacent commercial space, so the 2020 policy discussion is a precedent for adapting restaurant capacity—not evidence of a broader trend or a direct model for this project.
Timeline remains a target
Construction was expected to begin in early October, with the original tavern remaining open during the work, St. Pete Rising reported. Owner Pete Boland’s goal is to open the addition by Christmas or before the pub’s seventh anniversary in February, but those dates are targets rather than confirmed milestones. Fraze Design Inc. is designing the project and Silverwood Designs is handling the millwork; Boland also expects the larger operation to create about 10 jobs.
