From Naples Daily News http://naplesdailynews.fl.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=16d11a2a0
At least four new restaurants are planned within the next year as part of a renaissance of sorts atBayfront in Naples. The final phase for the upscale mixed-use center overlooking the Gordon River at U.S. 41 includes new restaurants, retail shops and condominiums. Bayfront’s proposed addition on both sides of its entrance on Goodlette-Frank Road will extend the destination’s colorful European architecture and brick pavers.
Named Poseidon Place, Bayfront’s two-building addition will be across from the Third Avenue South entrance to Naples Square, a new block of luxuryresidences with a future retail component. Poseidon Place will include two floors of high-end condominiums above retail space, including at least one new restaurant with outdoor dining on that northeast corner of Goodlette.
“It’s going to be the hip, new energetic center over here,” said Christina Dunne, the commercial leasing agent for Bayfront. “It’s going to be the hot spot — all great restaurants, good energy destination, and with Naples Square it helps a lot because that’s 300 new apartments plus their retail. I think within the next year between their retail and our new restaurants and dining, it’s going to really connect and energize this part of Fifth Avenue, for sure.”
The construction timeline for Poseidon Place is not formally set, but Bayfront’s developer expects to break ground later this year.
“We’re just to market now, so as soon as I get enough pre-sales — I want to get over half pre-sold — so I’m guessing we’ll probably start fall or winter of this year,” said Kevin Stoneburner, of Stoneburner Companies, the Naples-based real estate development firm that launched Bayfront about 15 years ago.
“In the northern building — building 7, we call it — that would be a good fit there for an evening-only restaurant,” Stoneburner said. “For building 6 (in the space next to the parking garage on the south side of the entrance) I’m looking for probably something in the furniture or design type use. We see more and more proliferation of those type of users now coming up to the 10th Street area.”
Although a dining concept has yet to be named, the restaurant proposed as part of Poseidon Place is targeted to debut next year.
“I’m guessing that they would be open for business in all likelihood probably in 2018, like mid-2018,” Stoneburner said.
At least three other redeveloped restaurants in Bayfront are expected to launch before then.
The significant redevelopment of Shane’s Cabana Bar is a project that has been many years in the making but is expected to finally be completed this year. The longtime one-story bar on the edge of Bayfront and the Gordon River will be replaced with a two-story restaurant and bar.
“I can tell you definitely we will be starting that probably within the month and hopefully be open by season of this year coming up,” Stoneburner said. “It’s no longer just a bar.”
The tiny round bar at 495 Bayfront Place will be converted to a full restaurant, more than tripling in size to 5,200 square feet with the addition of a kitchen, dining area and restrooms.
“We’ll have valet parking both by land and by water,” Stoneburner said.
The opening date for Shane’s Cabana restaurant is targeted toward the end of 2017.
“I haven’t decided on the name as of yet, but I will probably keep my son’s name on the new restaurant, which will be predominately seafood,” Stoneburner said.
Replacement restaurants for the recently vacated Roy’s and the 7,800square-foot spot of the former Mereday’s Brasserie and Alto Jazz Kitchen are expected to launch around the same time for a new season, Stoneburner said.
“I’m shooting for the first of December,” he said. “It’s my goal to have Roy’s space and the other empty restaurant and that space open in a similar time period. So it will be a renaissance of Bayfront.”
To fill the restaurant spaces, Dunne is reaching out to some fresh restaurant concepts such as Bulla, pronounced boo-ya, a casual gastropub with shareable small plates.
“I’m looking for more hip, cool, kind of energetic destination restaurants — something unique, not found immediately in our community,” Dunne said.
Another office space between two buildings near the center of Bayfront is targeted for redevelopment for a possible eatery with an outdoor dining area. “We have strong interest in that space,” Dunne said. “It’s good for a bistro or coffee culture, wine lounge. It’s wide, all windows. It’s perfect for dining.”
Other dining opportunities may be possible in the second building of the new Poseidon Place development. It depends how the space is divided, Dunne said.
“Building 6, it can be divisible. It’s not filled yet,” she said. “Right now they are trying smaller spaces, or it can be larger retail or one good restaurant that needs that kind of space. It’s still in the works.”
Above the planned commercial space, each of the 16 condos at Poseidon Place will have three bedrooms, three baths and a private two-car garage. Prices will start at nearly $1 million and extend to more than $1.3 million, Stoneburner said. Six units are in one building and 10 units in another, with open concept living spaces ranging from 2,007 square feet to 2,554 square feet.
“It’s approved for 20 units, but I’m only building 16. I made them a little larger,” he said.
Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@ naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s “In the Know” is published every Monday and Wednesday. Like In the Know on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten. intheknow.
See a video. naplesnews.com
The tiny Shane’s Cabana Bar on the edge of Bayfront and the Gordon River will be replaced this year with a much larger two-story restaurant and bar.