Three restaurants are under construction at Coastland Center, the mall across U.S. 41 from Lake Park. Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill is going up on a new outparcel at the Fleischmann Boulevard corner. Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse is remaking the old Uncle Julio's building at Golden Gate Parkway. Rodizio Grill is building out an inline space at the mall entrance near CMX CinéBistro. All three are built around steak or seafood, and their target openings run from the end of 2026 into early 2027.
The departures explain the arrivals. A Mexican restaurant, a Caribbean grill and a pizza place have left the mall. A raw bar, a churrascaria and a Mediterranean steakhouse are on the way. Taken as a set, the change moves Coastland's restaurant row toward dinner-focused rooms with full bars and, at two of the three, fire on the patio.
Six outparcels, two of them dark
The freestanding buildings on Coastland's western end all trace back to one anchor. In Naples Press's Tim Aten Knows column, Tim Aten writes that the Cheesecake Factory's long success led to more outparcels being built for these restaurants:
- CMX CinéBistro
- Uncle Julio's Mexican restaurant
- Bahama Breeze Island Grille
- Twin Peaks
Oar & Iron will be the sixth chain building on that end of the property. Two of the existing five are empty. Uncle Julio's and Bahama Breeze both closed within the past year, and both buildings were still vacant in Aten's latest report.
Uncle Julio's lasted about three and a half years before closing in February. Bahama Breeze at 2088 Ninth St. N. went dark in May 2025, when Darden Restaurants closed 15 locations of the brand. Darden plans to retire the Bahama Breeze concept next spring and convert the remaining locations to its other brands. The long-running south Fort Myers Bahama Breeze is scheduled to become a Yard House next summer. Darden still has no plans for the Coastland building.
The new tenants are betting on a different kind of meal from the ones that left.
The Fleischmann corner gets a raw bar and a firepit
The first project you see coming north on U.S. 41 is Oar & Iron at 2094 Ninth St. N. It sits on a new outparcel in the southwest corner of the Macy's parking lot. Its patio entrance faces the corner of Fleischmann Boulevard and U.S. 41. The plans call for 5,899 square feet indoors and a 1,833-square-foot patio with a firepit under a louvered pergola.
The concept is a Florida version of 110 Grill, a Northeast chain named for Route 110 in Massachusetts, where it first opened. Oar & Iron uses lighter, nautical colors, adds a raw bar and leans further into seafood and steak. Naples Press reported earlier that the whole menu can be made gluten-free. RAVentures Hospitality Group, a New England restaurant group, owns and operates the brand.
Some in Lake Park may already know the brand. The first Oar & Iron opened in late 2023 in Founders Square at Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road in North Naples. Locations near Topgolf in Fort Myers and in Parrish followed, and Babcock Ranch opened in early April. Coastland will be the fifth.
The schedule has already moved once. The first sign on the site said "Coming late 2025." Rob Luzzi, senior director of marketing for RAVentures, gave Naples Press a new timeline:
"[We] would love to be open by the end of 2026, but otherwise early 2027, based on construction."
The mall entrance goes back to carved meat
Rodizio Grill's spot has a long history of beef. The Utah-based Brazilian steakhouse is building out the inline space near CMX CinéBistro that was most recently Aurelio's Pizza. Before that, the space was Pate's House of Prime Rib and then Ted's Montana Grill.
Rodizio is joining Aurelio's old space with a vacant unit next door, for 9,160 square feet of indoor dining at 2048 Ninth St. N. The format is a churrascaria. Gauchos carve rotisserie-grilled meats at the table, and there is a salad bar with hot and cold sides plus a full bar. Of the three new restaurants, it is the only one without outdoor dining.
The chain is not new to Collier and Lee. Rodizio has run a location at Coconut Point in Estero since April 2016, and Aten reports the Coastland room will be significantly larger. The chain has more than 20 locations, six of them in Florida. The target opening is late 2026 or early 2027.
At Golden Gate Parkway, the mural turns white
At the northwest corner of the mall, where U.S. 41 meets Golden Gate Parkway, Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse is taking over the nearly 11,500-square-foot building at 2096 Ninth St. N. that Uncle Julio's built. Naples Press describes the project as a high-end restaurant.
From U.S. 41, the most visible change will be on the building's western wall. The large, colorful mural there will be painted white and carry 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 plans also remove the ironwork near the patio and replace agave and umbrella plants with Italian cypress, bougainvillea and podocarpus. The palette is white, gold and brown. The building's footprint and scale will stay the same.
The patio is where the Mediterranean theme gets its fire. Jason B. Taylor of Bradenton-based Taylor Studios, the design firm, told city staff and the review board that the plans add "firepit tables, freestanding firepits, some planters and a built-in gas fireplace feature on the patio," according to Naples Press. With Atlantic Forge here and Oar & Iron's pergola firepit at the other end of the frontage, both corners of the mall's U.S. 41 side will have outdoor fire features. Atlantic Forge is expected to open in early 2027.
Next door, the former Bahama Breeze at 2088 Ninth St. N. is the one building on this stretch with no new tenant.
Across the highway, a steakhouse becomes a clinic
On the other side of U.S. 41, the turnover is running the opposite way. Dorona, the Aielli Group's modern Italian steakhouse, closed in May 2025 after more than seven years at 2110 Tamiami Trail N. The 7,380-square-foot space is on the southern end of the Centre Pointe retail center, at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Golden Gate Parkway. It had earlier been a TGI Friday's and Midtown Kitchen & Bar. Northwestern Concierge Clinic is now building out the space.
The clinic is affiliated with Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Corp., which already operates Northwestern Medicine Concierge Medicine Naples on Fourth Avenue North in Old Naples. The health system also owns two properties farther south on the same highway: the former Collins Hotel at 1100 U.S. 41 and the former Frank's Pure Automotive station at 1190 U.S. 41. It acquired them in 2023 and 2025 and has redevelopment plans for both. On the northeast corner of the intersection, then, the change is from a restaurant to a medical office. On the mall side, dining space is being rebuilt for more dining.
The winter calendar at the Fleischmann end
The projects are on staggered timelines. If Oar & Iron and Rodizio meet their earlier targets, they come first. Atlantic Forge's early-2027 date puts it last.
- Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, 2094 Ninth St. N.: targeting the end of 2026, otherwise early 2027.
- Rodizio Grill, 2048 Ninth St. N.: targeting late 2026 or early 2027.
- Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse, 2096 Ninth St. N.: targeting early 2027.
That window overlaps a big weekend on the same boulevard. The 30th annual Art Fest Naples is at Fleischmann Park, 1600 Fleischmann Blvd., on Jan. 16 and 17, 2027.
If you are weighing how these changes along Lake Park's northern edge might affect a home nearby, whether for daily convenience, noise, traffic or long-term value, I'm glad to talk it through. Anthony Caraballo offers private consultations and private-market access for owners and buyers who want to know what is happening around them before they decide.
