As Frank T. Hurley looks ahead to his 90th birthday this October, he had can look back over the 60 years he has headed Pass-a-Grille realty firm Hurley Associates, and more than 70 years of local history.“The most amazing thing,” he told Paradise News, “is the growth of all the beaches, particularly St. Pete Beach. The whole island is like an extended family, and there’s sort of a parochial feeling living and working here. We’ve seen the place grow so many times over, and there’s something about an ‘island people’ that tend to cling together. I’ve seen it grow from a little fishing village into a flourishing tourist center than can be proud of its achievements.”
Real estate was Frank’s third career, the first in journalism, split by a stretch with the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) from 1943-46. He grew up in Washington, D.C., covering his high school activities including sports for the Sunday Washington Times. “I found a love for sports,” he recalls, “and was covering everything from wrestling matches to the Golden Gloves, which I had to skip my senior prom to cover. It was pretty heady for a kid of 16 to 18.” Frank volunteered for the USAAF and wrote briefly for several Army papers, then spent mo
st of the war in the Pacific Theater on Okinawa with the Ordinance section of the 7th Army.
After the war, he used veteran’s benefits to attend St. Petersburg Junior College, editing the student paper, and began writing for the now defunct St. Petersburg Evening Independent. His most vivid memory was his lead coverage of the 1950 Labor Day hurricane. “It was my first front page banner headline,” he notes. Moving to California, he was editor of the Arcadia Tribune from 1956-57 and was writing for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner when he was called back to Pass-A-Grille to help with the family realty business. He wrote stories for the Grille Bits newsletter and two books, “Surf, Sand & Post Card Sunsets,” and “Pass-a-Grille Vignettes—Times Past, Times Remembered,” a collection of articles written for Paradise News predecessor, Grille Bits.
“Frank’s Sketches—Drawn from His Life’s Perspective,” an 18-page collections of cartoons and sketches drawn from his newspaper, Air Force and sports writing days, was just published for the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum and is available for $2.00. “I selected all the drawings,” Frank notes, “and it will give everyone a nice review of my life and times over a long career.”
The late Col. Frank T. Hurley moved to Pass-A-Grille following his Army retirement in 1945 and joined the realty company founded by Mrs. Billy Mitchell in 1918. It relocated to the current office on 26th Avenue in 1935, now a city historic landmark. He bought the business a year later, changing the name to Frank T. Hurley Associates Inc. With his health deteriorating, Col. Hurley named Frank Jr. as president in 1964. In addition to his many philanthropic pursuits, Colonel Hurley negotiated the sale of Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands, at the time the largest land sale in Pinellas County history. He died March 9, 1966, and later that year the park between 15th and 16th avenues in Pass-a-Grille was named Colonel Frank T. Hurley Memorial Park in his honor. Frank headed the company until recently, when his failing health made him retire, turning the business over to his brother Ken and nephew Sean. Together they built a loyal sales force and rental department, continuing as one of Pinellas County’s leading realty firms.
“When I came back, there was just a two-lane road to Corey Causeway,” Frank recalls. He’s continually amazed at the burgeoning development, assnecondos replace outdated small motels and even hotels, under 100-room. “Trying to strike a balance in development is very important,” he says. “Condos are important to increase the tax base, and at the same time we need hotels and motels for tourists to come in and spend money in our restaurants and shops.”
Hurley Associates has been almost a 50/50 leasing and sales business for the 45 years-plus Frank has been involved, with an excellent leasing residual rate—one of his tenants has been back 23 of the past 25 years. “One of the key reasons for St. Pete Beach growth is that there’s something for everyone’s budget,” he observes, “both full time residents and tourists.” Hurley properties lease from $500 to $10,000 monthly, with several hundred available. They’ve managed one property since it was built 64 years ago, and many others over 40 years.
Although the company sells real estate throughout Florida and sometimes out of state, records indicate that it’s consistently involved in over 90%of Pass-A-Grille realty transactions. “Arguably, we’ve sold more Pass-A-Grille property than all other existing realtors combined,” says Frank.
Longtime History Buff
Hurley’s well-received first book, “Surf, Sand & Post Card Sunsets,” a history of Pass-A-Grille and the Gulf Beaches, published in 1977 and revised in 1989 and 2007, is a direct result of his long-time love of history. His Washington home was close to historic Fort Stevens, where President Lincoln came to observe a Civil War battle, and then Lt. Oliver Wendell Holmes reportedly shouted, “Get your head down, you damn fool!”
His maternal grandfather was a boy in Virginia during the Civil War, and his paternal grandparents helped settle the Arizona Territories in the 1890’s and lived on an Indian reservation where Grandma Hurley collected artifacts now in the Smithsonian and made an historic photo collection that Frank was able to recently computer restore. During World War I his mother became of the first “Yeomanettes,” an organization created when the Navy realized women could be used in a variety of jobs to free up men for active duty. “Mom had graduated from business school and was working for National Geographic when she joined up,” Frank notes, “and was in the downtown Naval Department headquarters until the Armistice.”
The book starts off, “There is a place called Pass-A-Grille, where it all began.” Among highlights: Broken pottery shards found in Timicuan Indian burial mounds on the beaches date to 1100-1200 A.D. … Ponce de Leon careened his flagship for hull cleaning on Mullet Key in 1513 … The “great gale,” the hurricane of 1848 that hit the area, was the most devastating in Florida history until Andrew in 1992 … John Gomez, self-styled “last of the pirates,” is credited with bringing the first “tourists” to Long Key and Pass-A-Grille from Tampa in 1857 on his schooner Red Jack. He’s also credited with “inventing” the legend of Jose’ Gaspar, whom he described as “a Spanish naval officer turned pirate in 1783 who cut a bloody swath through the Gulf for 38 years” … In 1884, just 19 years after the Civil War ended, St. Petersburg’s early settlers visited Longboat Key and Pass-A-Grille … St. Petersburg Times editor William Straub, part-time Pass-A-Grille resident, was instrumental in getting a charter bill through the Florida Legislature, and on June 6, 1911, Gov. Albert Gilchrist signed the bill creating the Town of Pass-A-Grille.
Giving Back to Community
Hurley has long been active in many community and area organizations, as he puts it, “contributing and giving something back to the folks who have helped make us prosper.” He has been a member of the Pinellas County Historical Commission from 1993 to 2012, and former Chairman, responsible for Heritage Village in Largo and the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum in Pass-A-Grille.
Other involvement includes SPB Board of Commissioners, 1965-69; Pinellas County Traffic Safety Council chairman, 1968-69; Pass-A-Grille Community Association President, 1963; SPB (now Tampa Bay Beaches) Chamber of Commerce Director, President in 1975-76 and Citizen of the Year Award in 1983; Gulf Beach Board of Realtors President, 1969, Realtor Emeritus in 2012; Florida Assn. of Realtors Dir., District VP, 1971; St. Petersburg /Suncoast Realtors Ass. life member, Ambassadors Award, 1984; St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts; SPB Aesthetic & Historic Review Board Chairman.
Until recently, Frank kept a regular schedule at Hurley Associates, working in the office five days. Though his health is failing, he remains sharp as a tack, and his outlook is very positive. “It’s been great dealing with people who really like living here,” he says, “and it’s nice to see a community that’s alive with people having fun. Our family has seen almost 70 years of Pass-a-Grille and Gulf Beaches history.
Story by Steve Traiman
Photos Courtesy of Gulf Beaches Historical Museum