For Montenero Owners, This Winter's Beach Season Runs on Pelican Bay's Own Calendar

From the upper floors of a 20-story tower on Pelican Bay Boulevard, the season shows up a few weeks before the traffic does. At the beach, Sandbar has been serving lunch since Oct. 15. Marker 36's bar never closed this fall, and its dining rooms come back in November. South along the mangroves, past the end of Pelican Bay, the 18-story tower at 475 Seagate Drive has been quiet since April.

All of that runs on schedules someone wrote down, and the most useful one belongs to the Pelican Bay Foundation. Its approved Fiscal Year 2027 budget sets the restaurant hours for the coming months. It also shows the Foundation paying for a busier beach social season than last year. That is happening while its biggest neighbor reopens under a new flag, with less open to outsiders than before and one dispute still unsettled.

Two beach restaurants on staggered calendars

The Foundation staggers its two beach restaurants. Through most of the year at least one is serving, and the full overlap falls between November and April. The FY2027 hours schedule lays it out month by month.

So late October is a hinge. When this post goes up, Sandbar is serving lunch until 4 and Marker 36 is serving drinks into the evening. From November through March, both restaurants run full service until 8:30 p.m. The schedule also lists Monday and Tuesday night closures, so check those before planning a midweek sunset dinner. The Nest's take-out bar keeps the same hours all year, noon to sunset, weather permitting.

Getting there hasn't changed. The Foundation describes North Beach and South Beach as a short tram ride or a walk through the mangroves.

The Foundation is spending more on the beach this year

On page 23 of the Pelican Bay Foundation's FY2027 approved budget package, total lifestyle activity spending is $206,850 for FY2027. The FY2026 budget was $145,020. Several lines account for most of the increase:

• Welcome Back Party at the beach, $15,000, a new line for FY2027
• End of Season Party at the beach, $15,000, also new
• Entertainment at the restaurants, weekly in season and summer plus holidays, up to $90,450 from $83,100
• Socials such as karaoke and trivia, $16,000, with summer socials at another $16,000
• Beach spring break and Easter activities, $5,000, down from $7,200

The Foundation expects about $53,300 in revenue to offset part of the cost of the socials, holiday parties, group events and partner events.

The FY2026 budget had no line like the two beach parties. It funded a themed January party at Marker 36 for $3,500 and an April beach concert for $10,000. The FY2027 budget instead sets aside money to open and close the season on the sand. It doesn't give dates. If you want to be there for the Welcome Back Party, keep an eye on Foundation member notices this fall.

The neighbor at Clam Pass comes back under its fifth name

Just past the south end of Pelican Bay, Naples Grande Beach Resort is due to reopen Jan. 1, 2027 as Signia Hilton Naples Grande Beach Resort. Gulfshore Business reports that most of the resort has been closed since April 1 for a $100 million renovation, the largest in its history. Hilton announced the new name on Sept. 10 and updated its release on Oct. 14. It is taking reservations for stays starting Jan. 1.

Owners who have been here a long time have seen this sign change before. According to Gulfshore Business, the property's names have gone like this:

1. Registry Resort & Club, opened in 1986 and run independently for nearly two decades
2. Naples Grande Resort, after Blackstone bought it in 2004 and renamed it in 2005
3. Waldorf Astoria Naples, in 2012, three years after it joined Hilton's Waldorf Astoria collection
4. Naples Grande Beach Resort, independent again after Northwood Investors bought it in 2013 and dropped the Hilton affiliation the next year
5. Signia Hilton Naples Grande Beach Resort, starting Jan. 1, 2027

The new brand points to the kind of guests the tower will be filling. Gulfshore Business notes that Signia focuses on meetings and conventions. The resort has more than 83,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, it is already marketing the renovated property to groups for 2027, and it will be the first Signia Hilton on Florida's Gulf Coast. The renovation covers redesigned rooms, suites and villas, a new arrival area and lobby, new dining concepts, and upgrades to the spa, wellness area, pools and event spaces.

Hilton's announcement describes refreshed dining but doesn't name any new restaurants or bars. The resort's dining page still bills Rhode's End as a casual beach stop for locals, resort guests and visitors staying elsewhere. The same page says the resort is closed for renovation through Dec. 31, and it says nothing about what Rhode's End will be after January.

The golf course next door already changed hands in practice

The golf course reopened before the hotel did, and it reopened private. The Naples Daily News reported in February that the former Naples Grande Golf Club had been renovated and renamed CAVU Golf Club. It is now members-only and no longer open to resort guests. CAVU's own membership page calls the club private and says it reviews applications as openings come up. Racquet courts are listed among CAVU's member experiences.

Staying at the resort no longer comes with a round on the course next door. Playing it now takes a CAVU membership.

The plan on the resort's east side is paused, not settled

The other change neighbors have been watching is a proposed water recreation complex of about 3.3 acres on the east side of the resort. It included water slides, a lazy river, pools, splash-play areas and food service. Gulfshore Business reports that the resort calls it a hotel amenity, while opponents call it a water park and point to noise, traffic and parking. Another Gulfshore Business story reports that one traffic concern was the road that also serves as the main way into Clam Pass Park.

The Pelican Bay Foundation is one of the parties. The Naples Daily News reported that the Bay Villas Association and the Foundation filed appeals on April 17, after the county zoning director ruled against the residents' reading of the rules. In May the resort withdrew its site development plan amendment. A May 30 update from the Park Shore Association said the appeals would go ahead anyway and that the resort might take the project up again once they are decided. Gulfshore Business's fall coverage still describes the project as on hold, with the appeals filed. It also reports that opponents say they have gathered more than 5,000 signatures and raised more than $150,000.

When the hotel opens on Jan. 1, that question will still be open.

Clam Pass Park is unchanged, but the drive east is not

Collier County's Clam Pass Park page still describes the same public park: a three-quarter-mile boardwalk through the mangroves, paid parking, a free tram, and Conservancy-guided nature walks Monday through Saturday from December to April. The county's October beach renourishment project covers City of Naples beaches from Doctors Pass to just south of 21st Avenue South, well away from Pelican Bay.

The bigger change is on the trip east. In July, Collier County began widening Vanderbilt Beach Road from four lanes to six between just east of U.S. 41 and east of Goodlette-Frank Road, including the intersections at Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank. Lane closures typically run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. In spring 2027, crews plan to build a box culvert between Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank, which will cut traffic to one lane in each direction for about two months. The county expects the whole project to take about two years, weather permitting. Until the work is done, trips toward Strada Place go more smoothly after 3:30 p.m. or on a Sunday, and the spring narrowing will make that stretch the slowest part of the drive. A sunset dinner at Marker 36 doesn't use that road at all.

If the busier season has you thinking about your own plans at Montenero, whether that means staying put, adding a winter base nearby, or selling while the season draws buyers, Chad Phipps can walk you through what towers along Pelican Bay Boulevard are selling for right now. Start with an instant home valuation and a local market consultation, and we'll talk it over before the Welcome Back Party.