Coquina Sands has spent almost four years listening to construction on its southern edge. The 125-acre parcel that residents knew as the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club sat behind fencing until November 2025, when the new Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort, officially opened to the public on November 17. What that reopening actually delivered to the neighborhood, and what it did not, is the story of this summer.

The short version: three of the resort's dining rooms and one of its beach bars are already open to non-guests, one of them closes for the month of August, the spa and golf course are still coming, and the north end of the beach walk is about to gain a new playground. If you live on Gulf Shore, Banyan, Crayton, or Yucca, the next twelve weeks are the window to work through the list before winter demand arrives.

What "open to the public" actually means at 801 Gulf Shore

The resort's own dining page and independent reviews line up on this: you do not need a room key to sit down. The Merchant Room, HB's, and Sunset Bar are all open to the public — you do not need to be a hotel guest. Valet parking is $15 with restaurant validation. The beach is publicly accessible.

The Merchant Room is the flagship. Chef Gavin Kaysen is a two-time James Beard Award winner who trained under Daniel Boulud at Cafe Boulud NYC. This is Kaysen's first restaurant outside Minneapolis, where he runs acclaimed restaurants Spoon and Stable and Demi. Day-to-day resort kitchens sit under Executive Chef Fabio Quarta and Chef de Cuisine Colin Henderson. That is not a resort filling seats until the season starts; that is a kitchen built to keep residents booking through August.

The August gap at HB's, and why it matters this summer

If you were planning to walk down for a beachfront lunch this month, check the calendar first. The restaurant will be closed throughout August 2026 for exciting updates, and welcomes guests back to a newly enhanced HB's in September.

The closure is the first real signal that this operator intends to treat HB's as a long-run neighborhood asset rather than a soft-launch experiment. It also explains why Sunset Bar and The Merchant Room have absorbed more resident traffic in July than the original opening pace suggested they would. Reservations that would have gone to HB's are moving forty feet north to Sunset Bar's tables or inland to The Merchant Room. If you have been trying and failing to get a Merchant Room table on short notice, this is why. September, once HB's reopens, should ease the pressure.

Worth knowing about HB's for the fall return: parties of 8 or more guests are asked to dine from one of the curated preset menus, à la carte ordering is not available for these reservations, and for parties of 6 or more a 22% service charge is added to the final check. Plan family-in-town dinners accordingly.

Sunset Bar is the resident's after-6 room this summer

The bar carries a piece of the property's older identity forward without leaning on it. Sunset is Naples' social hour, a communal moment to delight in the destination's spectacular natural beauty. This daily ritual begins with the blowing of the conch shell, a traditional way to mark the day's end. With its beachfront location and unrivaled shoreline views, Sunset Bar is an iconic setting to celebrate this daily ritual.

Join us at Sunset Bar for live music every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday starting at 6:00 pm through the summer. Settle in for sunset views, something cold in hand, and an evening shaped by live music and the Gulf.

The menu is a genuine departure from the old hotel. Legendary among Naples beach bars, Sunset Bar returns as an iconic golden hour gathering spot where guests and locals come to mingle. Guests can enjoy tropical cocktails and a menu that focuses on the vibrant flavours of Mexico, with choices such as ceviche, tostadas and tacos, and signature guacamole. Hours run daily from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm, which makes it the only Coquina Sands venue that will take a walk-up crowd from mid-morning through the last light of the day.

If you have out-of-town guests staying a block away on Gulf Shore, Sunday brunch at HB's is the fall play. HB's Sunday Beachside Brunch unfolds at the beachfront sanctuary in Old Naples, where champagne, signature crudo and unhurried tableside canapés meet the turquoise shoreline.

For an early coffee before the beach, Naples Trading Co. is the practical stop. Naples Trading Company is the resort's Market Square hub for morning coffee, pastries, artisan sandwiches, seasonal salads, and beach-picnic essentials. It opens at 6:00 AM, the earliest food option on property, making it the go-to for early risers heading to the beach or tee time.

The other end of your beach walk is about to change too

Walk north on the sand from the Naples Beach Club and you reach Lowdermilk Park in about ten minutes. The park is 1301 Gulf Shore Blvd N, and a City Council vote in mid-June set the terms of its next chapter.

Lowdermilk Park is looking at a nearly $700,000 expansion that would bring new life to one of Naples' most popular beachfront destinations. The Naples City Council is set to vote on a $699,787 agreement with Playmore West Inc. for the purchase and installation of a new playground and covered gazebo at the park.

The context matters for anyone who has watched this stretch of beach recover:

• The project would replace the park's previous playground on the north side that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
• Funding comes from a combination of two previously approved park enhancement projects and a $250,000 donation from the Nommensen family.
• The gazebo, originally planned as part of a 2025 park improvement project, was postponed after construction bids exceeded the available budget.
• If approved, the plan also updates the city's 2025-26 budget to provide an additional $250,000 from the Beach Fund to help cover project costs.

Practical notes if you use the park as your everyday beach: Lowdermilk Park is open daily from 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM, and parking for beach access in the City of Naples requires the resident or visitor to have a beach parking permit or pay-by-space, and this is enforced year round.

What is still to come, in the order it will hit your calendar

The resort is on a staged opening, and the sequence matters if you want to plan around it.

1. Sanctuary Spa. The Sanctuary Spa is a 30,000-square-foot facility that houses 13 treatment rooms, a 24/7 fitness center designed by Harley Pasternak, and a 75-foot rooftop lap pool, and is scheduled to open in 2026 with aromatherapeutic steam rooms, Finnish saunas, and vitality pools.
2. The Fazio course. A Tom Fazio–designed 18-hole golf course in partnership with Discovery Land Company spans 100 acres and is set to open in 2026.
3. The Wager. A fifth venue, The Wager sports gastropub with bowling, opens in Q3 2026. The Wager will be Four Seasons' first property to feature a regulation four-lane bowling alley, plus a professional putting green and game lounge.

The Wager is the one to watch for anyone with grandkids visiting over the holidays. A bowling alley two blocks from the beach is not a thing Coquina Sands has had before.

A resident's summer week, mapped

Nothing about this list requires a car.

• Monday morning: Naples Trading Co. at 6 a.m. for coffee and a pastry, walk south to the beach access at the resort or north to Lowdermilk.
• Wednesday lunch: In August, HB's is dark, so a Merchant Room lunch or a Sunset Bar table with ceviche is the substitute.
• Friday at 6 p.m.: Sunset Bar live music, conch blown at sunset. Walk home.
• Sunday late morning: Once September arrives, HB's Beachside Brunch, then a slow walk north to Lowdermilk to see whether the new playground is going in on the north side of the park.

A note on why this summer, specifically

Coquina Sands has always been the quiet neighbor to Olde Naples, and the reopening of the Watkins family property under new ownership does not change that. It does mean the neighborhood now has, inside its own boundaries, a fine-dining room run by a James Beard winner, a beachfront seafood house, a Latin-inflected sunset bar, a 6 a.m. coffee counter, and, by year's end, a bowling alley and a Fazio course. That is a lot of new social infrastructure in one 125-acre parcel.

Residents who use it before December will set the pattern for how the place feels the rest of the year. Residents who wait for season will find themselves in line behind everyone else.

If you are weighing a move within the neighborhood, or a first purchase in Coquina Sands as this new chapter takes shape, Karl Faerber is available to walk the streets with you and talk through what these changes mean block by block. Let's Connect.