"Our proposed improvements include the addition of firepit tables, freestanding firepits, some planters and a built-in gas fireplace feature on the patio." That was Jason B. Taylor of Bradenton-based Taylor Studios, speaking to Naples city staff and the Design Review Board about the old Uncle Julio's building at Coastland Center.
Read on its own, that's one restaurant's design detail. Look at it next to the other projects around U.S. 41 and Golden Gate Parkway, and a pattern shows up. The restaurant planned for the Macy's parking lot is built around a covered firepit patio. The new retail center at Airport-Pulling Road and Golden Gate Parkway is holding its last open spaces for food concepts with outdoor dining. The dining corner closest to Grey Oaks is being rebuilt for evenings outside, and most of it is aimed at a narrow window around the turn of 2027.
The mural comes down at 2096 Ninth Street North
Uncle Julio's left its freestanding building on Coastland's northwest corner in February, after about three and a half years. The replacement is Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse, building out what the Naples Press describes as a high-end restaurant at 2096 Ninth St. N.
The Naples Design Review Board gave final approval to the facade, landscaping and signage changes on Aug. 26. The building's footprint and scale stay as they are. The big colorful mural on the western wall, its best-known feature, gets painted white with the restaurant's name in gold letters. The agave and umbrella plants give way to Italian cypress, bougainvillea and podocarpus. The ironwork near the patio comes out, and the firepit tables and gas fireplace go in.
The building is about 11,500 square feet. Opening is expected in early 2027, and the operator, menu and ambiance haven't been announced. So all that's public right now is what the outside will look like, and the outside is built around the patio.
A firepit under a pergola at Fleischmann and U.S. 41
On the mall's southwest corner, fencing in the shadow of Macy's surrounds Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill at 2094 Ninth St. N. The sign on the site first said "Coming late 2025." The construction schedule has moved since then, as Gulfshore Business reported in its Tim Aten column:
"[We] would love to be open by the end of 2026, but otherwise early 2027, based on construction," said Rob Luzzi, senior director of marketing for RAVentures Hospitality Group, which owns and operates Oar & Iron.
The plans make the outdoor bet clear. The restaurant will have 5,899 square feet inside and 1,833 square feet of patio, with a firepit under a louvered pergola. The patio sits by the main entrance at the corner of Fleischmann Boulevard and U.S. 41, the side most visible to traffic. Oar & Iron grew out of 110 Grill, a Northeast chain. The Florida version has lighter nautical colors, large outdoor dining areas, a raw bar and a menu with more seafood and steaks.
This will be the fifth Oar & Iron. The first opened in late 2023 at Founders Square, at Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road. Locations near Topgolf in Fort Myers and in Parrish followed, and the Babcock Ranch location opened in early April. The Coastland site will be the brand's closest location to central Naples. An October 2026 local roundup still listed it as under construction.
Inside the mall, a Brazilian steakhouse with a moving date
The third steakhouse-style concept is going into the mall building itself. Rodizio Grill is building out the interior and exterior space Aurelio's Pizza used to occupy. When Aurelio's announced its closing, coverage gave Rodizio a mid-2025 target. As of this month, the Rodizio Grill Naples page still says "opening in 2026" without a month, and the October roundup describes the build-out as ongoing.
So Coastland has three full-service restaurants in progress at the same time, and two of the three have published firepit patios. One prominent outparcel has no plan at all. Bahama Breeze at 2088 Ninth St. N. has been empty since Darden closed 15 of the brand's locations in May 2025. Darden is retiring Bahama Breeze altogether next spring and converting the remaining locations to its other brands, but it hasn't announced anything for the Naples building.
Where everything stands this October
| Location | Address | Status as of October 2026 | Expected timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse | 2096 Ninth St. N., former Uncle Julio's | Design Review Board final approval reported; renovation pending | Early 2027 |
| Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill | 2094 Ninth St. N., Macy's lot outparcel | Under construction | End of 2026 or early 2027 |
| Rodizio Grill | Former Aurelio's Pizza space, Coastland Center | Build-out ongoing | "Opening in 2026" |
| Bahama Breeze building | 2088 Ninth St. N. | Vacant | No announced plan |
| Gelateria Made In Italy | Coastland Center | Listed "Now Open" | Open |
| Just Salad | Naples Plaza, across from Coastland | Opened September 2026 | Open |
The gelateria comes from Coastland's own store directory, which marks it "Now Open" but gives no opening date. Just Salad opened its Naples Plaza location in September. In the same September stretch, La Pizzeria, a Neapolitan offshoot of Mercato Italiano, opened next door to it on U.S. 41, according to Gulfshore Business's roundup of the summer's restaurant changes.
The other end of Golden Gate Parkway is holding space for patios too
At Airport-Pulling Road and Golden Gate Parkway, Halstatt has finished the final phase of Poinciana Plaza. That phase is a new 10,000-square-foot retail center, bringing the professional park to 115,000 square feet. Its anchor is a 2,500-square-foot standalone drive-thru Starbucks.
Halstatt's announcement is useful for what it says about the spaces still open. The remaining units range from about 1,400 to 4,300 square feet, and the company is marketing them to "restaurant and food-and-beverage concepts, including those with outdoor dining." That puts the landlord at one end of Golden Gate Parkway and the restaurant designers at the other end on the same plan: tables outside.
What's open at Poinciana Plaza so far is mostly fitness and services:
- Discover Strength is open, offering 30-minute personal strength sessions led by a trainer.
- LVL Fitness, a Pilates studio, was expected to open before year end.
- The Retreat Aesthetics, a med-spa concept, was expected on the same timeline.
- Fresh Monkee, a smoothie shop, was also expected before year end.
- The Starbucks drive-thru was announced as "opening this summer."
None of the last four has a confirmed opening in the sources available as of Oct. 10, 2026. The Starbucks summer target and Fresh Monkee's hoped-for August or September debut have both passed with no confirmed opening date, so treat them as expected openings.
One table leaves the intersection
Not every restaurant space nearby is staying a restaurant. Across U.S. 41, on the northeast corner at Golden Gate Parkway, Northwestern Concierge Clinic is building out the 7,380-square-foot space at 2110 Tamiami Trail N. in the Centre Pointe retail center. That space was Dorona, a modern Italian steakhouse, for more than seven years until it closed in May 2025. Before that it was TGI Friday's and Midtown Kitchen & Bar.
That changes the tally for the intersection. Three longtime restaurant spaces have gone dark: Uncle Julio's, Bahama Breeze and Dorona. One is coming back as a steakhouse with an outdoor fireplace, one is becoming a medical office, and one has no plan. The space a new kitchen is actually adding is an outparcel carved out of a parking lot, and it's designed with nearly a third as much patio as indoor floor space.
Reading the calendar
Put the timelines together and here's the order of events:
- Now: Just Salad, La Pizzeria and Gelateria Made In Italy are open, and Discover Strength is open at Poinciana Plaza.
- Before year end, if schedules hold: Rodizio Grill's 2026 target, Oar & Iron's best case, and the Poinciana tenants Halstatt expects before year end.
- Early 2027: Atlantic Forge's expected opening, and Oar & Iron's fallback date.
The firepit patios, the bigger additions to this corner, are aimed at the cooler months of the 2026–27 season. Several of their dates have already slipped once. Oar & Iron's original sign said late 2025, and Rodizio's first target was mid-2025.
At the DWA Team, we track what changes on the roads around the gates as closely as what changes inside them, because that's part of knowing Grey Oaks well. If you'd like to talk about how this corner is changing, or where a Grey Oaks home sits relative to it, we're always glad to have that conversation.
