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

"Any idea what's going where Uncle Julio's and Bahama Breeze was?" A Naples reader sent that question to Tim Aten's column in Gulfshore Business. Grey Oaks residents who drive Golden Gate Parkway to U.S. 41 have likely asked the same thing at that light. The answer turns out to cover more than one building. Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse, Rodizio Grill and Oar & Iron are all being built on or around the edges of Coastland Center. That makes three new dinner restaurants centered on steak, all at the same mall.

The sites they are filling once held a Mexican restaurant, a Caribbean-inspired concept and a pizzeria. The new plans call for slower, dressier dinners, and the drawings make that plain. Two of the three include firepits on the patio.

The four sites and what's happening at each

Uncle Julio's lasted about three and a half years in its freestanding building before closing in February. Bahama Breeze closed in May 2025. Darden shut 15 Bahama Breeze locations that month and plans to convert the rest to its other brands when it retires the concept. The south Fort Myers Bahama Breeze is scheduled to become a Yard House, but Darden still has no plan for the Coastland building. That leaves one dark building at the mall while the three projects around it move forward.

Firepits in two separate plans

Neither Atlantic Forge nor Oar & Iron is just repainting someone else's dining room. Both have put their design money on the patio.

The Naples Design Review Board gave Atlantic Forge final approval on Aug. 26 for changes to the façade, landscaping and signage. The building is nearly 11,500 square feet, and its best-known feature is the large, colorful mural on the western wall. That wall will be painted white, with the restaurant's name in gold letters. The ironwork near the patio is coming out. The agave and umbrella plants are being replaced with Italian cypress, bougainvillea and podocarpus. Jason B. Taylor of Taylor Studios Inc., a Bradenton design firm, described the outdoor plan to city staff and board members: "Our proposed improvements include the addition of firepit tables, freestanding firepits, some planters and a built-in gas fireplace feature on the patio." The footprint, size and site layout stay the same. The new look is white, gold and brown.

Oar & Iron is a new building on open pavement in front of Macy's, so its plans start from scratch. It will have 5,899 square feet inside and 1,833 square feet of outdoor patio. The patio's firepit sits under a louvered pergola. The building is mostly white, with gray and muted blue accents. The patio adds about 31 percent to the indoor seating area. For a building that size, the outdoor space is a big part of the plan.

Rodizio Grill is building out both the interior and exterior of the old Aurelio's space. As a Brazilian steakhouse, it is built around a meal that takes a while. Atlantic Forge has not released anything about its menu, ambiance or offerings. Its renderings, a Mediterranean name and a patio lined with firepits are the only clues for now.

Why the timing matters more than the list

Three steakhouses at one mall sounds like a sudden change. On the calendar, they arrive one at a time, and the most precise target is the furthest away.

1. Rodizio Grill comes first if its stated target holds. The company's Naples page says "RODIZIO GRILL NAPLES OPENING in 2026" and gives no month. With October underway, the target leaves less than three months.
2. Oar & Iron has the least predictable schedule. A RAVentures Hospitality Group spokesperson once gave "late 2025 or early 2026" as the expected window. That window has passed, and the latest report still lists the building as under construction, with no new date.
3. Atlantic Forge has a clear target of early 2027, now that its design approval is in hand.

So most or all of this season's dinners at Coastland will happen before the new patios are lit. You can try the Oar & Iron concept now, though. RAVentures holds the Florida franchise rights, and the company opened its first Oar & Iron in late 2023 at Founders Square, at Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road. It followed with a Lee County location near Topgolf. The Coastland restaurant will be the fourth. The concept is a Florida version of 110 Grill, a New England chain. It uses lighter, nautical colors and large outdoor dining areas, and the menu features a raw bar, more seafood and steaks. The entire menu is also available gluten-free. Dinner at Founders Square is the closest preview of what the Macy's lot will offer.

Across Golden Gate Parkway, the openings are smaller

While the mall's new projects are big and slow, the other three corners of U.S. 41 and Golden Gate Parkway are moving in another direction.

On the northeast corner, the Centre Pointe retail center's old Dorona space is not staying a restaurant. Northwestern Concierge Clinic is building out the 7,380-square-foot space at 2110 Tamiami Trail N. The Aielli Group closed Dorona in May 2025 after more than seven years there. Before that, the space held TGI Friday's and Midtown Kitchen & Bar. Northwestern already runs Northwestern Medicine Concierge Medicine Naples on Fourth Avenue North in Old Naples. After three restaurants in a row, this corner now becomes medical office space. That puts more of the area's sit-down dining inside the mall's property.

What has opened nearby this year is small and quick. Just Salad opened in September in Naples Plaza, across from Coastland. Inside the mall, Gelateria Made In Italy is listed as open, with posted hours for this week. The mall's directory lists 103 businesses, 23 of them food and restaurant spots.

East on Golden Gate Parkway, at its intersection with Airport-Pulling Road, the pattern repeats. Halstatt Real Estate Partners built Poinciana Plaza at 2160 Airport-Pulling Road. It has a 10,000-square-foot retail strip on about 2.5 acres and a separate 2,500-square-foot Starbucks building with a drive-thru. Both buildings received certificates of occupancy on March 10. Discover Strength opened first, on April 6, in an 1,820-square-foot unit. It is the brand's first studio in Florida. LVL Fitness, a Pilates studio, and The Retreat Aesthetics, a med spa, signed leases. The Starbucks was targeted for summer, and we have not confirmed that it is open. In its May 28 announcement, Halstatt said Fresh Monkee is expected to open before the end of the year.

The plaza's dinner piece hasn't been leased yet. Halstatt has said it wants one large restaurant or two medium ones at the end of the strip farthest from Starbucks, with a 600-square-foot outdoor patio. As of the May announcement, the remaining space was still available for restaurant and food-and-beverage concepts, including outdoor dining. Like Coastland's owners, this developer has room for a patio in its plans.

Filling the evenings until the patios open

Some of the most dependable evening plans near Grey Oaks this fall don't depend on a construction schedule. Naples Botanical Garden holds its Día de los Muertos celebration on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, with music, dance, displays and crafts included with admission. Johnsonville Night Lights runs Nov. 27 through Jan. 3 and is closed Dec. 24, 25 and 31. Member tickets go on sale Oct. 19, and nonmember tickets on Nov. 2. The Garden also opened Ánima Botánica in Fogg Café on Oct. 1. The installation will be there through July 9, 2028.

For Coastland, here is the order to watch. Rodizio Grill's 2026 target comes first. Oar & Iron's opening date is still open. Atlantic Forge's white-and-gold building on the northwest corner is expected in early 2027. The Bahama Breeze building next door has no tenant announced.

New restaurants change how a corner feels, and they often shape how buyers see the homes nearby. If you're in Grey Oaks and wondering how the changes along Golden Gate Parkway might affect your home's value next season, Adam DeArmond can give you a clear, local read. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through what's changing near your street.