If you live in Pelican Bay, Waterside is not a destination. It is the place you walk to for a coffee, the address you name when a friend visiting from out of town asks where to eat, the parking lot you skip because you already know which side entrance to use. That casual familiarity is why the current construction fencing matters more than the average shopping-center refresh. By the end of 2026, the property will hold three sit-down restaurants that did not exist a year ago, a returning luxury house that left almost a decade back, and a home-furnishings campus large enough to change how you think about a Saturday afternoon.
The thesis is straightforward. Waterside is quietly finishing a rebuild that turns it from a compact luxury shopping center into something closer to a dining and gallery precinct. For residents who already treat it as an extension of the community, the practical shift is that you can now plan three different evenings out inside the same 29-acre property without repeating a room, a menu, or a price point.
The Dining Math Has Changed
At the start of 2025, Waterside had one major sit-down seafood option and a casual Italian chain that had filed for bankruptcy. That was the baseline. By the end of 2026, it will have Eddie V's, Buck & Rider, and the RH restaurant, three concepts with no overlap in price point, format, or menu identity.
Eddie V's is the first to arrive. Waterside Shops welcomes Eddie V's opening summer 2026 at 765 Seagate Drive. The brand sits firmly in the fine-dining tier and, per reporting on the announcement, is known for live jazz and a serious wine program, drawing a specific customer who has historically made the drive to Fort Lauderdale or Tampa to find it. Darden confirmed the Naples location as its first in the region.
Buck & Rider is a different register. Its CEO told Gulf Shore Business he was "really, really pushing for November or fourth quarter of next year." The chain brings an open kitchen and an indoor-outdoor format built around fresh seafood flown in daily.
Then there is the RH restaurant, which is not a chain concept in any recognizable sense. It sits inside a retail environment designed to feel like a private estate. The 174-seat format beneath the glass atrium, with wine service threaded through the experience, is closer to the European model of a gallery restaurant than anything currently on the Waterside roster.
For a resident, that means the following is quietly true for the first time: three evenings a week, you could eat at a different concept within the same property and not repeat a cuisine, a price point, or a room.
Openings at a Glance
| Tenant | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dior boutique | Open | Standalone boutique after relocating from its former store-within-a-store location inside Saks Fifth Avenue. |
| Hermès | Returning | Freestanding store with a tropical-inspired pavilion after a nine-year absence. |
| Brunello Cucinelli | Under construction | Replacing the former Williams Sonoma inline space, with buildout that began after construction documents were approved July 28. |
| Peter Millar | Fall opening | New store in the former White House Black Market space, specializing in premium sportswear and golf apparel. |
| Vuori | Fall opening | California-based athletic apparel brand plans to open this fall. |
| Anthropologie | Fall relocation | Moving into a larger storefront expected to open this fall. |
| Williams Sonoma + Pottery Barn | Under construction | Two-story outparcel shared by Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma in the former Barnes & Noble building. |
| Eddie V's | Summer 2026 | 765 Seagate Drive, Naples, FL 34108. |
| Buck & Rider | Targeting Q4 2026 | Open kitchen, seafood-driven. |
| RH Naples | Projected late 2026 | Six galleries, glass-atrium restaurant, ~29,382 sq ft. |
The Retail Shuffle Worth Walking Over For
Dior is the change that has already happened. On June 11, Dior stepped out of its longtime store-within-a-store model at Saks Fifth Avenue to a 6,000-square-foot suite that creates more visibility for its luxury fashion, accessories, fragrance and beauty lines. If you have walked through Saks recently and felt something was missing, that is the reason.
Hermès is the return that a lot of longtime residents have been waiting for. The store left in the late 2010s. The freestanding pavilion is the format the house tends to reserve for markets it plans to grow in, not markets it plans to test.
For golf and racquets households, Peter Millar in the former White House Black Market footprint is the more useful arrival than either of those. It is the kind of store that changes what you throw in the car before heading to The Commons for a match.
Two things worth knowing about the outparcel by the mall entry. First, construction workers are applying sheathing material to the exterior of the former Barnes & Noble building, and the two-story outparcel will be shared by Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma. Second, Waterside has not announced yet which retailer will fill the longtime space that Pottery Barn will vacate when it relocates to its new outparcel. That is a slot to watch through the fall.
Why the RH Campus Reads Differently Than a Store Opening
Set the numbers next to the property they are replacing. The former Nordstrom building, 74,591 square feet, vacant since 2020, is now the construction site for RH Naples. The new footprint is smaller and the format is not remotely comparable.
Six separate galleries with skylights will connect through landscaped courtyards and glass-roofed walkways, surrounding a central 4,143-square-foot, full-service restaurant and wine bar beneath an elongated glass atrium. The total footprint is 29,382 square feet. The building is being executed by Naples-based DeAngelis Diamond, making progress daily on a nearly 30,000-square-foot Restoration Hardware campus on the former footprint of the Nordstrom department store, which closed in 2020.
Two caveats on the timeline. County construction permits were issued in August 2025. The projected opening is late 2026, and RH itself has been careful about committing publicly. As Gulf Shore Business reported, "We have not formally announced the timing for the opening and are currently unable to provide project details," emailed the communications manager for the New York marketing firm representing RH. Read it as directionally accurate and calendar-flexible.
The reason to care as a resident is that this is not a store you visit for an hour. It is designed to hold you for an afternoon. Between the six galleries, the outdoor courtyards, and a full restaurant with wine service, it functions as a second amenity floor for a neighborhood that already has strong ones.
The Broader Property Frame
Waterside's operator has been consistent about the direction. "We remain dedicated to meeting the strong demand for best-in-class shopping and dining experiences in this region, along with retail partners who are not shy about bringing exceptional store design to this property," said Nate Forbes, managing partner of The Forbes Company. "As the next chapter for Waterside Shops is unfolding, we will continue to hold our place as the number one retail destination in this region."
Some scale context that residents rarely see quantified. At 290,000 square feet, Waterside Shops operates as an open-air center that carries an A++ classification, the highest assigned in the Florida market. That classification is why the tenants coming in are the ones coming in. It is also why the property can afford to break Pottery Barn out of an inline suite and give it a two-story outparcel of its own.
Contractor commentary from Naples Press points to more changes still in the pipeline. Sachse Construction's account executive Chuck Hundley told the paper that Waterside has "got some prominent tenants that they're talking to about coming in in '26, so I think you'll see more changes in 2026, more to come. It's all very positive." The Pottery Barn vacancy is the most obvious signal of that next round.
One More Date Worth Blocking Off
If you have grandchildren visiting, or if you have simply not walked through The Baker Museum in a while, mark November 8. Sunday, November 8, 2026, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM at Artis-Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd. Fall Community Day is a biannual celebration of everything the arts have to offer. The program is genuinely for all ages. Scheduled performances include a Youth Symphonia Fall Concert at 1pm, a Sea Gate Elementary Xylophone Club set at 2pm, HUGS (Happy Ukulele Group Strummers) at 3pm, and a Youth Chorus Fall Concert at 5pm, alongside an instrument petting zoo, face painting, bilingual storytelling, food trucks, and a scavenger hunt. Museum tours run in English and Spanish. Admission is free.
Between the Artis-Naples campus on one side and the finished Waterside build on the other, the practical edge of Pelican Bay this fall is the strongest it has been in years. You do not have to reshape your weekend to take advantage of any of it. You just have to know which construction fence is coming down first.
If you are curious how the Waterside evolution is being read into current values along Gulf Park Drive, Bay Colony, or the mid-rises at The Crescent, or if you know a friend north of town who is watching from a distance, The Abreu Group is happy to walk through the specifics in a private consultation. You can also browse the Pelican Bay community page for a fuller picture of the neighborhood as it stands today.
