Forbici Modern Italian St. Pete: Opening Date & What to Know

Forbici Modern Italian is opening at Sundial St. Pete, the open-air dining and retail complex at 153 2nd Ave N in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. As of June 2026, the concept is in pre-opening mode — staff training underway, social media building — with an expected summer-to-early-fall 2026 debut. No hard public date has been locked, but it's close.

Here's everything worth knowing before you make a reservation, and why this opening matters if you own — or are thinking about buying — property in downtown St. Pete.

What Is Forbici Modern Italian?

Forbici (pronounced for-BEE-chee — Italian for "scissors") is a modern Italian restaurant concept built around house-made pastas, wood-fired cooking techniques, and a serious Italian wine program. The vibe is upscale-casual: better than your neighborhood red-sauce joint, but not the kind of place where a server recites eight-syllable Sicilian dish names while you panic about the price.

The style fits squarely into what downtown St. Pete does well — high-quality independent dining that draws both locals from Old Northeast and Snell Isle and visitors staying along Beach Drive. Think along the lines of what Locale Market did for the gourmet casual segment at Sundial, but fully restaurant-focused and Italian.

The name "forbici" is also a nod to craftsmanship — cutting, precision, pasta-making — which signals the kitchen is taking the food seriously.

Sundial St. Pete: The Location

Sundial St. Pete is the anchor mixed-use complex between 1st and 2nd Ave N, a block from Beach Drive and about a 10-minute walk from the St. Pete Pier. It houses a mix of dining, retail, and the Sundial rooftop pool and bar. Previous and current tenants have included Locale Market, an Aveda salon, and a rotating cast of restaurant concepts.

The location matters for a few reasons:

• Foot traffic: Sundial sits in the heart of the downtown dining corridor. On a Friday evening, Beach Drive and the surrounding blocks pull serious pedestrian volume from the Grand Central, Edge District, and waterfront condo crowd.
• Event proximity: The Mahaffey Theater is three blocks south. Straub Park and the Vinoy are a 5-minute walk. The Pier district pulls weekenders from across Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
• Parking: Sundial has a dedicated garage off 2nd Ave N, which matters in a neighborhood where street parking evaporates by 7 p.m. on weekends.

If you've been following St. Pete's dining scene, Sundial has had some turnover — but it's recovering, and a concept with Forbici's evident quality investment is the kind of anchor that stabilizes a dining block.

Why Forbici Is Generating Search Interest

According to Search Console data tracked by this site, "forbici st pete" pulled 149 impressions at an average position of 10.2 over the past 28 days — and "forbici st pete opening date" logged 22 impressions at position 9.8 with a 0% click-through rate. That second number is notable: people are searching for the opening date, not finding a definitive answer, and bouncing. That's the gap this page is designed to close.

The searches are skewing toward:

• "Forbici st pete opening date" — people want a calendar date
• "Forbici modern italian st pete" — people researching what the concept actually is
• "Forbici sundial" — people who already know the location and want more detail

The honest answer as of June 23, 2026: no confirmed public date yet. The restaurant has been hiring front-of-house and BOH staff through the spring, posted menu teases on Instagram, and soft-opened briefly for private events. The public opening is expected before Labor Day 2026 — but check their Instagram (@forbicistpete — search it) or call Sundial directly for the latest.

Other New St. Pete Restaurant Openings in 2026

Forbici isn't arriving in isolation. Downtown St. Pete is in the middle of a genuine dining renaissance in 2026, and two other openings are generating comparable search volume:

Mei Restaurant — A modern Pan-Asian concept that's pulled over 121 impressions on its own query cluster. Mei is generating the kind of curiosity that usually precedes a hot-table reservation crunch in the first few months. We've got a full page on Mei Restaurant St. Pete if you want the details.

General downtown build-out — The post-Tropicana Field redevelopment footprint and ongoing Gas Plant District planning are drawing hospitality investment into the downtown St. Pete corridor in a way the market hasn't seen since the early Sundial era.

Taken together, these openings reinforce what local Realtors (myself included) have been telling buyers for two years: downtown St. Pete is not a "potential" dining destination anymore — it's a proven one.

What This Means for the St. Pete Real Estate Market

This is a real estate site, so I'd be leaving something on the table if I didn't connect the dining news to the market.

Walkable restaurant density is one of the most reliable demand signals for urban housing. According to Zillow Research and National Association of Realtors consumer surveys, buyers in the 28–45 demographic consistently rank walkable dining and nightlife among their top three neighborhood criteria — above school ratings for non-parent households.

Downtown St. Pete ZIP code 33701 has reflected this. Median sale prices in 33701 crossed $520,000 in early 2026, per Stellar MLS data, up from $487,000 in early 2024. Condo absorption in the Beach Drive to Central Avenue corridor has stayed strong even as the broader Pinellas County condo market has dealt with milestone inspection headwinds. See the Pinellas County condo market mid-2026 overview for the full picture on that.

Here's a quick snapshot of how downtown St. Pete stacks up against nearby submarkets:

| Submarket | Approx. Median Sale Price (Early 2026) | Walkability Score | Primary Demand Driver | |---|---|---|---| | Downtown St. Pete (33701) | $520,000+ | 88/100 | Dining, waterfront, arts | | Old Northeast (33704) | $610,000 | 74/100 | Historic homes, proximity to downtown | | Shore Acres (33703) | $540,000 | 52/100 | Waterfront lots, boating | | Snell Isle (33703) | $850,000+ | 55/100 | Luxury waterfront |

Source: Stellar MLS Q1 2026 data; Walk Score estimates.

Restaurants like Forbici and Mei don't move the market on their own — but they're additive to the amenity stack that makes 33701 defensible at $500K+ price points. When I'm doing a listing analysis for a downtown condo, I'm counting new restaurant opens as a positive comp factor, same as a nearby park renovation or a new Whole Foods.

How to Stay Updated on the Forbici Opening

Until Forbici posts a confirmed public date, here are the best real-time sources:

1. Instagram: Search @forbicistpete — they've been teasing menu items and interior shots
2. Sundial St. Pete website and social: Sundial often announces tenant openings on their own channels
3. St. Pete Foodies (Facebook group): 40,000+ members and they typically surface opening dates within hours of announcement
4. OpenTable / Resy: Once reservations go live, you'll find them there first

I'll update this page when a confirmed date is announced.

If you own a condo or home in the downtown St. Pete corridor and the activity around Forbici, Mei, and the broader dining build-out has you wondering what your place is actually worth right now — I'm happy to pull real MLS comps for your specific address. No algorithm, no automated estimate. I'll text you 3 actual sold comps within 24 hours, free, no pressure. Drop me your address here and I'll get it to you.