New Restaurants at Coastland Center in Naples: What's Coming

"[We] would love to be open by the end of 2026, but otherwise early 2027, based on construction." Rob Luzzi of RAVentures Hospitality Group said that to the Naples Press in May, about the Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill rising in the Macy's parking lot at Coastland Center. The first sign on that outparcel said "Coming late 2025."

That date shift tells you how this season will go at the corner where Golden Gate Parkway reaches U.S. 41 North. As of early October 2026, the new places that are actually open there are small. There's a gelato counter, a salad shop, a juice bar and a clothing store. The three big dining rooms being built to fill the mall's empty restaurant buildings are all aiming for the end of the year or later, and one of them has already said early 2027. For anyone heading west from Grey Oaks this winter, the dining changes at Coastland will mostly be visible as construction.

Six outparcels, and how the row got here

Coastland Center's western edge grew into a restaurant row over time. After the Cheesecake Factory did well for years, freestanding buildings went up for CMX Ciné Bistro, Uncle Julio's, Bahama Breeze and Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks was the most recent of those, opening in May 2024. Oar & Iron will be the sixth chain restaurant on its own parcel along this stretch.

What changed in the past year and a half is the number of empty buildings. Darden closed 15 Bahama Breeze locations in May 2025, the Naples one among them. Uncle Julio's closed in February after about three and a half years. Across U.S. 41, Dorona closed in May 2025 after more than seven years at Centre Pointe. Here is where each space stood as of the Naples Press update on Sept. 25, 2026.

Three of the five spaces will become restaurants again, one will become a medical office, and one has no plan at all. None of the five had opened as of the last dated report.

What opened while the larger rooms were being built

This year's openings went into smaller spaces. Gelateria Made In Italy opened in the Coastland food court on Friday, Sept. 11, and the mall's store page now lists it as "Now Open." Urban Planet held its grand-opening weekend from July 31 to Aug. 2. Just Salad opened in September at Naples Plaza, across from the mall.

A bit farther up the Trail, Juice Society opened at Park Shore Plaza in May 2026, in the unit that used to be Duck Donuts. It serves bowls, cold-pressed juices and smoothies.

The smaller places opened sooner partly because of how much each project involves. A food-court counter or a fit-out inside an existing unit doesn't need a new building. Oar & Iron needs a whole new building on a cleared parcel. Rodizio is merging two inline spaces into one. Atlantic Forge is reworking the outside of an existing outparcel and needed design-review approval first. In Naples Press reader questions this year, the restaurant projects appear as fencing, barriers and "heavy construction" more often than as menus.

The two new patios are both built around fire

The plans for the two new outparcel restaurants include very similar patios.

At Oar & Iron, the design calls for 5,899 square feet indoors and an 1,833-square-foot patio, with a firepit under a louvered pergola. The patio sits closest to the main entrance, on the corner of Fleischmann Boulevard and U.S. 41. The concept is a Florida version of the Northeast's 110 Grill. It uses lighter, nautical colors and has a raw bar, with more seafood and steaks on the menu. The Naples restaurant will be the brand's fifth. The first opened in late 2023 at Founders Square in North Naples, and the fourth opened in early April in Babcock Ranch.

Atlantic Forge's patio plan, as presented to the city by its design firm, reads almost the same way:

"Our proposed improvements include the addition of firepit tables, freestanding firepits, some planters and a built-in gas fireplace feature on the patio," Jason B. Taylor of Bradenton-based Taylor Studios Inc. told city staff and Design Review Board members.

Rodizio Grill takes a different approach. Its 9,160 square feet are all indoors, with no outdoor dining. That makes it much larger than the location the Utah-based chain has run at Coconut Point in Estero since April 2016. The format is a churrascaria, with rotisserie-grilled meats carved at the table, a salad bar of hot and cold sides, and a full bar. The chain's Naples page still lists hours and contact details as "Coming Soon."

The mural is the change you'll notice first

The first restaurant change visible from the Golden Gate Parkway corner will be the outside of the old Uncle Julio's. Atlantic Forge is converting the nearly 11,500-square-foot building at the mall's northwest corner. Its most recognizable feature, the large colorful mural on the western wall, will be painted white with the restaurant's name in gold letters.

The Naples Design Review Board gave final approval to the facade, landscaping and signage on Aug. 26. The ironwork near the patio comes out. The agave and umbrella plants will be replaced with Italian cypress, bougainvillea and podocarpus, in a white, gold and brown palette. The building's size, footprint and site layout stay the same. The restaurant hasn't released its menu or other details, and the Sept. 25 report expected it to open in early 2027.

The one building with no announced future

Next door, the Bahama Breeze building at 2088 Ninth St. N. is still empty. Darden is retiring the Bahama Breeze brand next spring and converting its remaining locations to other Darden brands. The long-running south Fort Myers location is set to become a Yard House next summer. As of Sept. 25, Darden still had no plans for its Naples building at Coastland Center. Once the brand's retirement is complete, this will be the only building on the row tied to a restaurant name that no longer exists.

Across U.S. 41, a restaurant space becomes a clinic

Not every former dining room is going back to dining. On the southern end of Centre Pointe, at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Golden Gate Parkway, Northwestern Concierge Clinic is building out the 7,380-square-foot space at 2110 Tamiami Trail N. Before Dorona, the same space housed TGI Friday's and Midtown Kitchen & Bar. Northwestern hasn't released details about services. It already runs Northwestern Medicine Concierge Medicine Naples on Fourth Avenue North in Old Naples. It also bought the former Collins Hotel and Frank's Pure Automotive sites at 1100 and 1190 U.S. 41 and has redevelopment plans there, though it hasn't announced details.

The retail changes at Park Shore Plaza are on the same timeline. Gulfshore Business reported on Aug. 7 that Sierra is planned for the former Party City unit before the end of this year. T.J. Maxx is taking the space Saks Off 5th left in the spring, with an opening expected in the first quarter of 2027. TJX had not confirmed those dates. No later report has confirmed that either store has opened.

The season, month by month

Based on the latest dated reports through Oct. 2, 2026, here is what to expect at this end of Golden Gate Parkway:

1. Open now: Gelateria Made In Italy and Urban Planet at Coastland Center, Just Salad at Naples Plaza, and Juice Society at Park Shore Plaza.
2. Targeting the end of 2026: Oar & Iron at 2094 Ninth St. N., Rodizio Grill at 2048 Ninth St. N., and Sierra at Park Shore Plaza. Each of these is a stated hope or target, and Oar & Iron has already said early 2027 is possible.
3. Early 2027: Atlantic Forge at 2096 Ninth St. N. and T.J. Maxx at Park Shore Plaza.
4. No date: Northwestern Concierge Clinic at 2110 Tamiami Trail N.
5. No plan: the former Bahama Breeze at 2088 Ninth St. N.

Of the three large restaurants under construction on Coastland's western edge, Rodizio Grill is the only one whose own website still says it will open in 2026.

If you've been watching these corners change and wondering what it means for property values closer to home, Mark Paige Riley keeps a quiet eye on Golden Gate Parkway from Grey Oaks to the Trail and is always glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.