If you have been telling out-of-town guests to wait until the Piazza construction wraps up before you take them to dinner at Mercato, you can stop. It already wrapped. The bigger disruption this year is happening at your own address, right at the US 41 entrance to Pelican Marsh itself, and it is only now getting underway.
That timing matters more than it sounds. Two capital projects bookend a single year in this pocket of North Naples, one finished in time for last season and one just breaking ground this season, and knowing which is which changes how you plan the next few months.
The Piazza Already Had Its Season
Mercato broke ground on its Piazza expansion on July 23, 2025, after an earlier version of the project stalled and got pushed back a full year. The new plan tripled the size of the public courtyard, moved a permanent covered performance stage in front of Narrative Coffee Roasters and Waxin's, and rebuilt the northern edge of the space to stretch from Beeline all the way to Tommy Bahama. Jamestown LP, which manages the center for owner PGIM Real Estate, targeted a mid-October completion with a grand reveal in early November, timed, in the words of media relations manager Lauren Ness, to be "just in time for season."
By the numbers that matter to a resident: the old Piazza ran about 3,000 square feet from the former Bravo Italian Kitchen to Narrative Coffee Roasters. The rebuilt version is roughly three times that footprint, with more shade and permanent seating built in rather than added as an afterthought.
So the Piazza you may still be picturing under scaffolding has been open, staffed, and hosting events for close to nine months now.
What's Actually Open Right Now
The list of what changed around that courtyard is longer than the Piazza itself:
- Taberna Burntwood replaced the former Burntwood Tavern in the same footprint
- Waxin's, a Swedish-American restaurant, opened next to the new stage
- Beeline, a cocktail lounge, opened across the street from the Piazza
- Violi, a Greek concept from Chicago's DineAmic Hospitality, opened where Bravo Italian Kitchen used to be, led by chef Athinagoras Kostakos, winner of Greece's version of Top Chef, with partners David Rekhson and Luke Stoioff. It sits at 9110 Strada Place, #6145, open Sunday through Thursday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 1 a.m., with happy hour running 3 to 6 p.m.
- Shake Shack had build-out underway nearby, aimed at a late 2025 opening
Bravo Italian Kitchen is the one closure on the list. Everything else is either new or renamed in place, which is a different story than "Mercato is under construction," the version of this that still circulates.
The Monthly Ritual That Didn't Skip a Beat
Cars & Coffee 239 never paused for any of this. The event still runs the third Sunday of every month at 9118 Strada Place, with Collier County Sheriff's deputies posted at both the US 41 and Vanderbilt Beach Road entrances to Mercato, brunch service starting as early as 8 a.m. at Pura Vida, and a different local charity and musician featured each time. If you have skipped it because you assumed the venue was mid-renovation, the calendar has kept moving without you.
Your Own Front Door Is a Different Story
Here is the piece that has not shown up in the Mercato coverage: while all of that was finishing up outside the gates, Pelican Marsh's Community Development District was working through the design phase of a new guard gate at its own US 41 entrance. The district posted preliminary renderings and set a start date of April 2026. District board minutes also noted, without giving a final figure, that the cost estimate for the gatehouse has nearly tripled since the project's earliest design stage, a detail worth knowing if you track CDD assessments.
August 2026 puts us about four months past that scheduled start. If the project has tracked to the district's own posted timeline, construction activity at the US 41 gatehouse should be visible now, arriving right as the Piazza's opening buzz has settled into routine.
Here is how the two timelines actually line up:
| Project | Broke Ground | Target Completion | Status as of August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercato Piazza expansion | July 23, 2025 | Mid-October 2025 (grand reveal early November 2025) | Open and operating through a full season |
| Pelican Marsh US 41 guard gate | Scheduled for April 2026 | Not yet announced | Should be underway now, per district's posted schedule |
That gap is the actual news. One entrance to your daily life just finished its rebuild and has been running smoothly since last fall. The other, the one you drive through every day, is on the early end of its own.
If you want to track the gate project directly, the Pelican Marsh Community Development District posts its meeting schedule and project updates publicly, with Board of Supervisors meetings held the third Wednesday of most months at the Pelican Marsh Foundation Building on Pelican Marsh Boulevard.
Trails Without Leaving the Gates, and One Worth Leaving For
None of this touches the parts of Pelican Marsh that do not need renovating. The community sits on more than 1,000 acres, with 133 acres set aside as nature preserve, including the Cocohatchee Strand, and the internal path network around it is still the same one that has made morning walks and easy bike rides part of the daily rhythm here for years. Center Court, the community's tennis facility, still runs its full slate of lighted Har-Tru courts and programming.
If you want a longer walk than the internal paths give you, Collier County maintains a separate public preserve along the Cocohatchee Creek nearby, with a shell-rock trail and picnic area, a reasonable change of scenery without leaving the immediate area.
Spring board minutes for the Foundation of Pelican Marsh, filed in April 2026, described tennis and pickleball participation as strong and bocce as continuing to thrive under its own dedicated leadership, a small but real sign that none of the capital project noise has touched the parts of community life that run on their own schedule.
What This Actually Means for the Next Few Months
The practical takeaway is simple: the dining and event side of your world just came out of its disruption, and the gate side is heading into its own. If you are hosting guests this fall, Mercato is ready for them exactly as it is right now, no need to hedge or apologize for scaffolding that came down months ago. If you are the one driving through the US 41 entrance every day, this is the season to expect the noise, not last season.
Knowing which project is which, and which one is actually over, is the difference between planning around a problem that no longer exists and missing the one that does.
If you are weighing a move within Pelican Marsh, watching how a specific address handles this kind of neighborhood transition, or just want a second set of eyes on what a property near either entrance is really worth right now, The Resop Team knows this stretch of North Naples block by block. Book an appointment when you are ready to talk specifics.
