Waterside Shops has spent two years rebuilding itself, and its 2026–27 season starts with that rebuild about half visible. One of the three major new restaurants is serving dinner. Several new or relocated boutiques have opened along the inline storefronts. The two biggest projects, the RH campus and the Buck & Rider seafood restaurant, stand on the opposite side of the property from the restaurant that has opened, and both are still under construction.
For anyone in Pelican Bay who uses Waterside as the neighborhood's living room, this season splits the mall in two. The Seagate Drive corner is finished and running on its new schedule. The former Nordstrom and Brio sites are where the change that will reshape evenings at 5415 Tamiami Trail N. is still being built.
The Seagate Corner Is the Finished Half
Eddie V's Prime Seafood opened June 7 on the southwest corner of the open-air center. Gulfshore Business reported that the 9,991-square-foot Darden restaurant took over a heavily renovated former bank office at the corner of Seagate Drive and Myra Janco Daniels Boulevard. It was the first of the three restaurant projects to open, and so far it's the only one.
Five months in, it's a regular dinner option, not a novelty. The basics:
- Address: 765 Seagate Drive, a freestanding building at the mall's edge.
- Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, according to the Waterside directory.
- Menu: seafood flown in from around the world and hand-carved steaks.
- Music: live jazz every night in the V Lounge.
Because Eddie V's sits on the corner and not inside the mall, it works as a dinner stop that never requires walking the mall. That matters more this winter than it will a year from now, because the far side of the mall is still a construction zone.
The Storefronts Moved First, in a Chain
The inline changes were quieter than a new restaurant, but each one set up the next. Waterside largely rebuilt its tenant mix by moving existing stores into new spaces.
The chain started with Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn. They reopened in January in the renovated former Barnes & Noble outparcel at 5377 Tamiami Trail N., Gulfshore Business reported. That move freed up inline space. On June 11, Dior left its longtime store-within-a-store at Saks Fifth Avenue for a 6,000-square-foot suite built partly from the space Williams Sonoma had left, plus some smaller adjoining units. The boutique is at 5375-5 Tamiami Trail N., near Saks.
Here's where the main pieces have landed:
| Tenant | Where it was | Where it is now |
|---|---|---|
| Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn | Inline storefronts | Former Barnes & Noble outparcel, 5377 Tamiami Trail N. |
| Dior | Inside Saks Fifth Avenue | Standalone boutique, 5375-5 Tamiami Trail N. |
| Vuori | New to Waterside | Near Sephora, 5475-7 Tamiami Trail N. |
| Omega | Previous location | Temporary space near True Food Kitchen |
| Anthropologie | Original storefront, closed October 19 | Relocating to 5475-1 Tamiami Trail N. |
Vuori, which Waterside announced as open on September 10, is the newest name in the row. Two other moves are still in progress. Omega is selling watches and fine jewelry from its temporary space while it waits for a permanent 1,848-square-foot unit, a move Gulfshore Business placed in late 2026 or early 2027. Anthropologie closed its original storefront on October 19 to move into its new address.
These shuffles are why the corridor feels finished on most days. Most of the work happened behind existing storefronts over the summer, when foot traffic was light.
The Other Side of the Mall Is Where Evenings Change
The two projects that will change the mall most both sit across the property from Eddie V's. Gulfshore Business described construction there as readying two more dining destinations.
The bigger one is RH Naples. Naples-based DeAngelis Diamond is building an RH campus of nearly 30,000 square feet on the footprint of the former Nordstrom, which closed in 2020. The builder describes the project as six buildings, five of them RH galleries and one a standalone restaurant. Naples Press reported that the restaurant and wine bar will cover 4,143 square feet with 174 seats under a glass atrium. Landscaped walkways will connect the galleries to that restaurant.
That's a different kind of place than anything Waterside has had. It's a home-furnishings campus with a full-service dining room at its center, built on the largest single site in the redevelopment. Over the summer, Gulfshore Business reported that RH hoped to open near the end of this year. The Waterside directory lists it as "Coming Soon."
The second project is Buck & Rider, in the 7,617-square-foot former home of Brio Italian Grille. Brio closed earlier in 2026, and Naples Daily News reported in August that its replacement is aiming for early 2027. The Waterside directory gives the same window, listing the restaurant as "Coming Early 2027."
Buck & Rider comes from Arizona, and the Naples location is its first expansion outside the Southwest. According to Waterside's announcement, the menu pairs locally sourced seafood and ingredients with seafood flown in daily, and the room will have an open kitchen, a raw bar and indoor-outdoor seating. Hiring has started. The Hi Noon Hospitality Naples hiring page says management positions are open now, with front- and back-of-house hiring to follow.
Together these two projects account for most of the redevelopment's dining. They're also why this winter's evenings at Waterside still center on one corner.
What the Calendar Holds Between Now and Early 2027
Smaller openings will keep arriving through the season, and most are boutiques. Waterside's own announcements give each one a window, not a date:
| Coming to Waterside | Category | Waterside's stated window | Location noted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piranesi | Fine jewelry | Fall 2026 | 781-square-foot unit across from Dior |
| Peter Millar | Sportswear and golf apparel | Late 2026 | Former White House Black Market space |
| LoveShackFancy | Fashion | Holiday 2026 | Near Sephora |
| TWP | Fashion | Early 2027 | Near Tory Burch |
| RH Naples | Galleries plus restaurant and wine bar | Coming Soon | Former Nordstrom site |
| Buck & Rider | Seafood restaurant | Early 2027 | Former Brio space |
Peter Millar will probably get the most attention from Pelican Bay's golfers. Gulfshore Business reported that the brand is taking the former White House Black Market space for its premium sportswear and golf apparel.
One date on the December calendar is firm. On Friday, December 11, the Guadalupe Center Toy Drive and Shop & Share runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the Waterside Shops Pavilion, according to the Guadalupe Center events calendar. It's an easy way to fit a holiday errand around a local cause, at the same pavilion in the middle of the storefronts that changed most this year.
For the next several weeks, the practical version of Waterside looks like this. You can book dinner and jazz at Eddie V's on the Seagate corner, shop the new Dior and Vuori storefronts, and visit the relocated Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn in their own building. The RH galleries and the Buck & Rider raw bar will be the reasons to check the far side of the property again after the New Year.
Chad Long and The Luxury Living Team at Luxury by Chad Long follow changes like Waterside's rebuild because they shape daily life in Pelican Bay and North Naples. If you're weighing how the new Waterside fits into your own plans here, request a private consultation and we'll talk it through with you.
