A patio renovation more than three years in the making is finally set to open at The Joint, the neighborhood tavern at 7630 34th Avenue North in St. Petersburg's Jungle Terrace area. The overhauled outdoor space will add a covered patio, an outdoor bar, seven TVs, and large fans, though the bar's overall seating capacity will not increase and it may even lose a couple of seats in the shuffle.
Co-owners Ben Scherlis and Francesco “Fran” Balzano expect to welcome customers into the new space later this month, according to St Pete Rising. Scherlis said the redesigned area will let people sit outside, order food and drinks, and watch TV, and the outlet reports the project dates back to the pandemic — meaning it has been in the works for more than three years. Balzano told the outlet the owners are not really adding to the space so much as using it more wisely, reorganizing the existing outdoor seating around the new bar and covered area.
A Property Snag Held Up the Project
The renovation was delayed by a property issue involving the entrance to The Joint's parking area, which is owned by the City of St. Petersburg, per the same account. To move forward, the owners secured use of part of that city property, though the property-use agreement came with strings attached: it required landscaping improvements and cost the bar three parking spaces. To offset the lost spots, Balzano reached an agreement with the nearby Arthur Murray Dance Studio to let Joint customers use its parking lot, particularly during evening hours.
Once complete, the new patio is expected to be cooler than the former umbrella-covered version, thanks to an insulated roof and the added fans. The revamped outdoor area will occasionally host live music, including solo performers, guitarists, and duos, though it will not host larger bands, the report notes. The bar's regular lineup of music bingo on Tuesdays and trivia on Wednesdays remains a fixture for its loyal customer base.
A Neighborhood Fixture With Fanatical Fans
The Joint has served as a gathering spot for sports fans and neighborhood regulars alike, with a menu that includes wings, burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, fish and chips, meatball sandwiches, pot roast sliders, and seafood dishes. It also offers a hook-and-cook service, letting local fishermen bring in cleaned, scaled, and filleted catches for the kitchen to prepare — a practice consistent with Florida Sportsman guidelines allowing state restaurants to cook customer-caught fish so long as the catches meet state size limits, harvest seasons, and filleting rules. The bar also runs weekly specials built around freshly caught fish from local purveyors.
“People who are fans of The Joint are fanatical and love the place,” Scherlis said, according to St Pete Rising. Balzano opened The Joint in 2016 alongside the late Mike Anderson, a longtime Pinellas County bar owner who also co-founded Dead Bob's with Scherlis in 2014 before passing away in September 2021, according to a Tampa Bay Times obituary that credited Anderson with operating several staple neighborhood venues, including The Wharf, The Reef, Willy's, and The Pro Shop. Scherlis joined The Joint's ownership group later on.
Part of a Bigger Pinellas County Expansion
The patio makeover arrives as Scherlis and Balzano continue building out a wider hospitality footprint across the region. The pair has partnered on other ventures beyond The Joint, including Dead Bob's Waterfront Kitchen at the Elks Lodge in Madeira Beach, which the St Pete Rising reported opened in January 2026 under an instant $50 application fee model for non-Elks patrons at the recently rebuilt lodge. Scherlis also relocated Dead Bob's itself in late 2025 to a larger St. Petersburg storefront to triple kitchen capacity, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and partnered with Jim Breazeale of DeLosa's Pizzeria to open a pizzeria in the old Dead Bob's spot this past March.
Most recently, Largo city commissioners approved 10-year leases and agreed to reimburse up to $414,400 in municipal construction funds toward Live at Dead Bob's, a Scherlis-owned outdoor live-music venue slated to open in 2027 inside Largo's new $80 million civic complex. The Joint's steady popularity, meanwhile, is unfolding against a backdrop of rising property values in Jungle Terrace, where the median home list price stood at $600,000 as of this month, with some new luxury builds listing as high as $1.48 million, according to Gulf Shores Realty. The neighborhood, bordering Boca Ciega Bay, traces its roots to the 1910s, when developer H. Walter Fuller established it as a resort community anchored by what is now the city's 130-plus-acre Walter Fuller Park.
