Riverside Park, the green space beside the Imperial River that hosts most of the city's events, has been closed for Phase Two construction since the second week of April 2026. It reopened once, for the Star Spangled Bonita celebration on July 4. Otherwise it stays closed until the city's "winter 2026" target. The rest of downtown Bonita Springs is open. This fall, activity has moved from the park onto Old 41 Road, to a few independent businesses within a short walk of the construction. The first event the city has scheduled back at Riverside Park in its 2026–27 calendar is December 8.
For anyone going over from Quail West, the best way to plan the visit is around the construction schedule.
What the City Has Committed To, and When
The city has published dates for downtown work in three places this year. Read together, they mostly agree.
| Project | What's being built | Latest stated target |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside Park, Phase Two | Park renovation; Phase One finished in spring | Construction April to November 2026, complete by winter 2026 |
| Bandshell | Renovation | Reopening "late fall" |
| Banyan Lot | Splash pad with enhanced lighting and a restroom building | "Almost complete" as of August, opening "this winter" |
The city's Summer 2026 newsletter, posted August 25, kept the same season it gave in April. It described the splash pad as almost complete and said the Riverside Park renovation is still scheduled to finish in winter. None of these pages gives a ribbon-cutting date. Treat them as targets, not promises.
When the park is open, it holds the Historic Liles Hotel, the Artist Cottages, a butterfly garden, the bandshell, a Veteran's Brick walkway and memorial, covered picnic shelters, and a fountain. While Phase Two continues, the city is sending gatherings to the Liles Hotel Plaza and the lawn between the Liles Hotel and the park, which stay available.
Parking Changed First
The park closure is the obvious change. Parking changed earlier. The Bamboo Lot is the site of a public-private development between the city and Barron Collier DT Bonita LLC. It stayed open for parking during the early phase of construction, then stopped offering public parking on December 1, 2025. On-street spaces and the Felt's Avenue lot are now the public options downtown.
Barron Collier calls the project Imperial 41. It spans the Imperial River in two buildings. The north building is residential only. The south building has ground-floor commercial space with apartments above. The plan includes 120 apartments, 19,000 square feet of commercial space, two public parks, public restrooms, bike racks, a fire pit, and public parking. The company's December 2025 announcement projected construction would finish in 2027 and residential leasing would start in late 2027.
So downtown has two construction timelines. The park and splash pad are aimed at this winter. The Bamboo Lot project runs into 2027. The parking that used to sit next to the riverfront will return as part of a larger building, not as a surface lot. Until then, plan to park on the street or at Felt's Avenue.
The Riverfront's Newest Address Was a Laundromat
The biggest change on Old 41 this year is at 27306 Old 41 Road. Hide-A-Wai Mojito Bar opened there in the former Imperial River Laundromat. SWFL.Life described the conversion as more than a year in the making. It's the downtown location of Alligator Bay Distillers.
The bar comes from brothers Ben and Alex Voss and their partner Matt Slaughter. The original distillery was in Punta Gorda. Ben grew up in Naples and moved to Bonita Springs in 2011. The family started planning this next step after Hurricane Ian. The site was hard to find. To keep distilling their own rum, they needed zoning that allowed it inside the downtown area. When the laundromat property came up, Ben told SWFL.Life, "We had about two weeks to make a decision."
What matters at the bar is the sugarcane. Hide-A-Wai presses fresh cane and distills on site under what it calls a "Cane to Bottle" approach. Its signature mojitos use fresh sugarcane juice from Farmer Mike's U-Pick in Bonita Springs, not simple syrup. SWFL.Life tried the House, Strawberry, and Coconut mojitos.
The hours matter for planning a visit:
- Monday through Wednesday: Closed
- Thursday: 3 to 10 p.m.
- Friday: 3 to 10:30 p.m.
- Saturday: 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
- Sunday: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Next door, CGT Kayaks runs Imperial River rentals, tours, and instruction from Cabin #6 at Riverside Park, 27300 Old 41, and its site describes a stabilized launch ramp. The cabin is inside the park while Phase Two is underway, so confirm launch access with the outfitter before you plan a paddle.
A Saturday Away From the Construction
The other downtown anchors keep different hours. Saturday gives you the longest window to visit all three.
- Everglades Wonder Gardens, morning. Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., last admission at 3 p.m., under prices posted June 15, 2026. Arriving early leaves the afternoon free.
- Arts Bonita Visual Arts Center, midday. At 26100 Old 41 Road, the Main Gallery has "Alchemy & Magic" through October 31. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. October 31 falls on a Saturday, so five Saturdays are left in the run, starting October 3. Arts Bonita's Performing Arts Center is a separate building at 10150 Bonita Beach Road.
- Hide-A-Wai, late afternoon. The bar opens at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and stays open until 10:30 p.m.
Sunday doesn't work as well because the Visual Arts Center is closed. On Thursday and Friday, all three are open only from 3 to 4 p.m. Hide-A-Wai opens at 3, the same time Wonder Gardens takes its last admission, and Wonder Gardens closes at 4.
If you're out early on a Saturday, there's another stop nearby. The Local Roots Flea Market returns to the Promenade at Bonita Bay on October 3. It runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon through May 29, 2027.
The Calendar Goes Back to the Park in December
The city's approved calendar for the season shows when events are planned to return to Riverside Park. No events are listed there in October or November. The first entry is a December concert, and most of the season's programming is scheduled there after that.
| Date | Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, Dec. 8 | Stardust Memories Big Band | Riverside Park | 7 to 9 p.m. |
| Friday, Dec. 11 | Wine & Wonder | Everglades Wonder Gardens | After hours |
| Sat.–Sun., Dec. 12–13 | Kris Kringle Village | Liles Hotel | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Bonita Springs Concert Band | Riverside Park | 6 to 8 p.m. |
| Jan. 9–10, 2027 | Arts Bonita art festival | Riverside Park | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Jan. 31, 2027 | Ukulele Fest | Riverside Park | 2 to 5 p.m. |
| Feb. 6–7, 2027 | Arts Bonita art festival | Riverside Park | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Mar. 6–7, 2027 | Arts Bonita art festival | Riverside Park | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
Wine & Wonder is the Wonder Gardens' after-hours evening with wine, entertainment, food, and a silent auction. Kris Kringle Village is at the Historic Liles Hotel, which the city counts as part of Riverside Park. Around the Arts Bonita festivals, the Stardust Memories Big Band and the Bonita Springs Concert Band have more dates at Riverside Park from late January through April.
The calendar is a schedule, not proof the park will be ready. The December dates match the city's stated winter finish, and the bandshell's "late fall" target falls just before the December 8 concert. If construction runs on schedule, the first time the renovated park is used for its main purpose will be an evening of big-band music on a Tuesday in early December. Until then, Old 41 has places to go any Saturday.
If an Old 41 Saturday has you thinking about how the communities near Quail West will change as Imperial 41 goes up and Riverside Park reopens, Taranto Team is happy to talk it over. Schedule a private consultation, and we'll share what we're tracking along the Bonita Beach Road and Old 41 corridor this season.
