If you live within walking distance of Third Street South, you already know the neighborhood has been under scaffolding for the better part of two years. That work is now finished, and it has produced something more consequential than a single new restaurant or shop. Olde Naples is in the middle of its largest hospitality reset since the Naples Beach Club era ended, and the operators driving it chose to open in summer rather than wait for season.
That timing is a gift to residents. The people who stayed through July get first look at rooms, tables, and programs that will be difficult to walk into by January. Here is what has actually changed within a few blocks of your door, and what to do about it this month.
One block, three openings, one holdout
The most visible change sits at 200 Broad Ave. S. Olde Naples Hotel, inspired by the historic former Naples Hotel near this site, opened to guests May 15 at 200 Broad Ave. between Third Street South and Gordon Drive in downtown Naples. Room rates start at $399 per night, and the property is part of the Delray Beach-based Opal Collection. The building was designed by Hart Howerton and draws from the legacy of the original 1889 Naples Hotel, and its scale was intentionally suppressed. Principal Tim McCarthy has described setting the building back from the street and breaking up the massing so it would sit alongside the surrounding cottages rather than tower over them.
The ribbon cutting on June 11, 2026, drew community leaders to Third Street South, with Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann and Anne Camalier cutting the ribbon. For residents, the more useful facts are the ones that touch daily life:
- The property has 109 rooms and sits one block from the beach.
- Bicycles, beach chairs, umbrellas and a complimentary shuttle move guests between the hotel and the beach.
- A rooftop pool with shaded cabanas sits at the top of the hotel, with sunset views toward the Gulf one block away.
- Annie's Bistro, Bar & Bakery evolves throughout the day, from morning espresso and house-made pastries to a more refined American menu by evening, and it is open to non-guests.
Annie's is where the hotel becomes a neighborhood asset rather than a private amenity. The bistro features large murals painted by local artist Janine Wesselmann, along with a piano and a gilded ceiling. It is the first all-day café on this block that stretches meaningfully past breakfast, which matters when the alternative is a fifteen-minute walk to Fifth Avenue for a mid-afternoon espresso.
Wrapping two sides of the hotel is the century-old Olde Naples Building, and this is the holdout. Built in 1921, the Olde Naples Building has been vacant for 20 years, since Fantozzi's of Olde Naples closed in 2006 after operating a popular deli, wine, and cheese shop there for two decades. Restaurateur Rick Doody, a co-creator of the Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, has planned to open JoJo's Bar, a high-end Italian-American steakhouse, in the corner building the Camalier family has owned for more than 40 years. That project is now uncertain. On the opening day of the hotel, Doody was told during a phone call with Chris Camalier that the family, which owns both properties, wanted to go in a different direction with the corner restaurant. Watch the windows at 1148 Third Street this summer. Whatever appears there will define the corner for the next decade.
What the calendar actually looks like right now
The district's own programming has not paused for summer. If anything, it is more resident-friendly, because most of it is not built around visitor traffic.
| Program | Where | When |
|---|---|---|
| Third Street South Farmers Market | Behind Tommy Bahama, Neapolitan parking lot | Saturdays, 7:30–11:30 a.m., year-round |
| Wednesday Morning Yoga | Books on Third, 1300 3rd St. S., Balcony Boutiques | July 1 and July 8, before store hours |
| Mahj for a Cause | Barbatella, 1290 Third St. S. | Recurring evenings, benefits Humane Society Naples |
| Summer Specials on Third | District-wide | June 1 through September 30 |
The market is worth a note on its own. It is celebrating 30 years in the Third Street South district, having been established in 1994 and grown to over 60 vendors, with no national chains or franchises. It is easier to shop in July, when the crowd thins to regulars, than in February, when the aisles behind Tommy Bahama become a slow shuffle.
The Mahj nights at Barbatella are a small thing done well. A portion of every ticket sold is donated to the Patty Baker Humane Society Naples, which turns a weeknight into something more than dinner.
The off-season math on a Third Street reservation
Here is the quieter reason to eat locally this summer. The restaurants that make Third Street South what it is are chef-owned and independently operated, which means their capacity does not scale up for season. When six weeks of demand collapses into fourteen, tables that require weeks of notice in January open up on a Tuesday morning phone call.
The district itself has leaned into this. From June 1 through September 30, participating restaurants are running summer specials, and the district emphasizes its award-winning, independent chef-owned rosters. A few specific windows worth putting on the calendar:
Chops City Grill is running 25 percent off entrees and steaks through summer. Ocean Prime has recurring happy hour specials in the lounge with reduced prices on cocktails and small plates, which regulars will tell you is one of the best bar programs in Naples at off-season pricing.
The broader pattern matters more than any single discount. As foot traffic drops from peak season, walk-in availability opens up at restaurants that require weeks of advance booking in January, and summer is the time to try the places that are usually fully committed. Campiello, The Continental, Tony's Off Third — the addresses you have been meaning to try or return to are all reachable on shorter notice through September.
Beyond the block
Two additions just outside the strict Third Street footprint deserve a mention because they are close enough to fold into a normal week.
The first is Grappino Bakery, which sits inside Olde Naples and runs breakfast through dinner with fresh-baked breads, pastas, and desserts at a price point that fills a practical gap for weekday mornings. If your household has settled into a routine of driving to Mercato for a bakery run, that trip is no longer necessary.
The second is Gulfshore Playhouse's Baker Theatre, which opened in fall 2024 but has quietly reset what a Wednesday evening in Olde Naples can look like. The complex sits at the corner of Goodlette-Frank Road and First Avenue South, replacing the cramped Norris Center. The new 50,000-square-foot building includes a 350-seat main stage, a 125-seat black-box studio, an educational wing, art gallery, public café, and a Founders Lounge. Its status matters for programming quality: Gulfshore Playhouse is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, one of four in Florida, which means it contracts professional actors under the same collective agreements as major regional theaters nationally. Summer season is when the studio programming is easiest to catch on short notice.
Reading the reset
Step back from the specific openings and the pattern is worth naming. The Olde Naples Hotel is not a chain arrival; it is a Camalier family project on land the family has controlled for decades, operated by an Opal Collection that already runs the Edgewater Beach Hotel and The Capri Inn locally. Annie's is named for Anne Camalier. The mural is by a Naples artist. Even the restaurant holdout across the street is a family real estate decision, not a corporate one.
That has consequences for how the neighborhood will change. The next wave of retail and dining at the base of the hotel will be curated by people who live here, not selected by a national leasing agent working from a map. The rooftop pool will attract weekenders, but the ground floor will be shaped by whoever the Camaliers decide to lease to over the next twelve months. Residents who pay attention this summer will have a real say in what stays and what does not, simply by voting with reservations and foot traffic.
The Olde Naples that emerges next season will not be the one you got used to during construction. Walk it now, while the tables are still open and the sidewalks are still yours.
If you are considering how these changes are shifting values on your block, or you want a quiet, off-season conversation about your options in Olde Naples, David Auston and the DWA Team are longtime neighbors and would welcome the introduction.
