Three of Waterside Shops' most recognizable tenants are gone. Nordstrom closed its Naples location in 2020 as part of a 16-store national shutdown. Barnes & Noble pulled out in July 2024, retreating from mall formats during a corporate restructuring. Brio Tuscan Grille, which occupied the same Waterside address for nearly twenty years, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2025 — its second in five years.
None of them were asked to leave. Each departed because the retail format they represented stopped working somewhere else. What The Forbes Company chose to put in their place follows a different logic entirely: concepts that have no equivalent anywhere else in Southwest Florida, several of them arriving here before they exist anywhere east of the Mississippi.
That is the story worth knowing. Not that the mall is under construction — you can see that from Tamiami Trail — but that the construction signals a deliberate repositioning. By late 2026, Waterside will hold three new sit-down restaurants, a Christian Dior flagship, the return of Hermès after a nine-year absence, and a Brunello Cucinelli boutique. Whether you shop here twice a week or twice a season, the destination you return to will be materially different from the one you left.
What the Footprints Became
The former Nordstrom building — 74,591 square feet, vacant since 2020 — is now the construction site for RH Naples. The concept bears little resemblance to the department store it replaces. 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. RH has not confirmed an opening date, but county construction permits were issued in August 2025, and the projected timeline points to late 2026.
The former Barnes & Noble outparcel is already a two-story building housing Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn, both of which relocated from inline spaces they had occupied for years. Williams Sonoma shuttered its original Waterside address in January 2025 specifically to move. The 5,888-square-foot space it vacated is now being built out as a Christian Dior flagship, with Brunello Cucinelli occupying the adjacent footprint.
The former US Bank outparcel on Seagate Drive will open as Eddie V's Prime Seafood this spring — the first Eddie V's location in Southwest Florida, operated by Darden Restaurants. The floor plan covers 361 seats spread across a main hall, a speakeasy, a stage-equipped bar area, wine storage, and two private dining rooms.
That leaves Brio's longtime space, which Buck & Rider — a seafood concept from Scottsdale-based Hi Noon Hospitality — is targeting for a November 2026 opening. It will be Buck & Rider's first restaurant east of the Southwest. CEO Adam Strecker told Gulf Shore Business he is "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.
Three New Tables by Year's End
At the start of 2025, Waterside had one major sit-down seafood option and a casual Italian chain that had filed for bankruptcy. 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 occupies the fine-dining tier. The brand, known for live jazz and a serious wine program, draws 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, and the Spring 2026 listing on Eddie V's own site now shows 765 Seagate Drive, Naples, FL 34103.
Buck & Rider reads more casually — open kitchen, indoor-outdoor flow — but Hi Noon Hospitality has positioned it as a destination for seafood sourced and flown in fresh. Its arrival in Naples before any other East Coast city is a deliberate expansion choice, not a franchise rollout.
The RH restaurant operates differently from both. 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. It is projected to open near the end of 2026.
For residents who use Waterside as a regular dining address, the practical shift is this: 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.
The Fashion Tier Arriving
The retail changes run parallel to the dining additions and reinforce the same logic.
Hermès has returned to Waterside after a nine-year absence, occupying a freestanding store with a tropical-inspired pavilion. Lafayette 148 opened in a 3,020-square-foot freestanding boutique. Panerai and 120% Lino relocated to new positions within the property. Tumi and The Beaufort Bonnet Company opened new locations. Sephora completed an interior update.
Brunello Cucinelli takes approximately 4,000 square feet of the former Williams Sonoma inline space, sharing the section with Dior's 5,888-square-foot flagship. That corridor will house two Italian and French luxury houses operating at the top of their respective categories — neither of which has a competing address in Collier County.
The cumulative effect is a property where the fashion offering now matches what you would expect to find in a dedicated luxury district in a larger market, compressed into a 29-acre open-air format that you can walk in under an hour.
What Forbes Has Not Yet Announced
Sachse Construction's Chuck Hundley told Gulf Shore Business in September 2025 that The Forbes Company had "prominent tenants they're talking to about coming in in '26." The inline space vacated when Pottery Barn relocated to the Barnes & Noble outparcel has not been assigned. Sachse confirmed it is preparing that pad while additional lease negotiations proceed.
The $100M total investment, as reported by Gulf Shore Business and regional outlets following the September 2025 construction announcement, represents the most significant capital deployment at Waterside since Forbes Company acquired the property in the early 2000s. Managing partner Nate Forbes framed it in terms of the regional market's trajectory, not a response to any single tenant departure.
The replacements chosen — first-to-market restaurants, returning European fashion houses, destination retail built around courtyard architecture and wine service — follow a consistent brief. The formats that work in larger markets, and that Naples residents have historically traveled to find, are being brought here instead.
That is the renovation worth paying attention to.
If you're thinking about what these changes mean for the Naples properties closest to Waterside Shops — or anywhere along the 34103 corridor — Taranto Team is happy to talk through it. Schedule a private consultation with Michael or Lauren directly.
