Both Ends of Olde Naples' Beach Are Fenced This Winter. The Middle Has Been Quietly Rebuilt.

From the sand at 13th Avenue South, the view north now ends at a barge, a work trestle and a line of concrete bents where the Naples Pier used to be. About a mile and a half up the beach, the avenue ends at Central Avenue and 1st through 4th Avenue North are behind fencing too. One project is rebuilding a landmark. The other is pulling stormwater pipes off the beach. They started separately and are paid for separately, but they are scheduled to finish within weeks of each other in the summer of 2027.

That means the 2026-27 season will run from start to finish with the beach closed off at both ends. Almost every avenue end from 1st Avenue South to 18th Avenue South has been rebuilt and reopened, and two of them are now doing work the Pier used to do.

The Pier's Date Moved to July 2027

Some readers heard November 2026 as the Pier's finish line. That date traces back to a Gulfshore Business report on the project timeline, where November 15, 2026 is the extended completion date of Turrell, Hall & Associates' design, engineering and inspection contract. It was never an opening date. The City of Naples project page says the Pier remains on schedule to reopen in July 2027.

July 2027 fits the roughly 18-month closure the City announced. Construction began January 6, 2026, the day after a public groundbreaking at the Pier. The milestones since then show how the work has moved:

• April 13, 2026: Demolition of the old Pier finished. Eleven days later, 59 of its concrete pilings were sunk at Wasmer Reef to expand an artificial reef first built in 2015.
• June 17, 2026: Shoreline Foundation Inc. started building a work trestle along the south side, so construction can continue when the offshore barges have to take shelter from weather.
• September 18, 2026: The concrete pour at the mid-Pavilion site took the project past half of the roughly 602 cubic yards of concrete it needs.
• October 7, 2026: Crews drove the last of 193 reinforced-concrete pilings.

The City expects Shoreline Foundation to finish all structural work in early 2027. After that, crews will start laying the ipe decking, a tropical hardwood chosen because it resists rot. Two-thirds of that decking had already arrived by July 24, 2026, but it goes down only after the concrete work is finished, so what you can see from the beach this season is mostly concrete.

What Is Coming Back, and What Isn't

The new Pier keeps the same footprint. Gulfshore Business reports the walking surface is planned at 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide, with bench bump-outs and midpoint and end structures that carry the familiar rooflines. The structure underneath is a different design. The changes the City has listed:

1. Pilings grow from 14 inches square to 18 inches square, and they are 70, 85 and 100 feet long. Every one is longer than the longest pile in the old Pier.
2. The deck sits three feet higher above the water.
3. The structure uses nearly three times as much poured concrete as before.
4. The mid-pier concession stand will not be rebuilt, because state and federal rules prohibited it. City Council chose portable food and beverage carts at the mid-pavilion instead.
5. A small Naples Police and Beach Patrol substation will be added to the Pier.

WINK News reported that the March 2026 redesign of the landside structures also shrank the shoreline building and removed some shaded seating. Anyone picturing a snack at the mid-pier counter next summer should picture a cart.

The North Fence Comes Down on Almost the Same Schedule

At the other end of the beach, the Stormwater Beach Outfall Project is removing all eight pipes that used to drain street runoff straight onto the Gulf beach. They are being replaced by two pump stations, one at 3rd Avenue North and one at 8th Avenue North, plus 3,200 feet of 36-inch offshore pipe. The offshore pipes went in by horizontal directional drilling at the two pump station sites, according to NBC2. The project site says the upgrade raises the system from handling a 5-year storm to a 25-year storm. According to the City, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection required the outfalls to come out as a condition of the county's beach-nourishment projects.

The contract with Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. is worth $86,224,216, and Kiewit's contractual completion date is June 4, 2027. The project site says the State of Florida is providing $40 million through legislative appropriations. The work appears to be running early. The Naples Daily News reported on August 11, 2026 that all four major components were more than 60% complete and the City said the job was ahead of schedule. In August, Gulfshore Business put the 3rd Avenue North pump station at about 95% complete and the 8th Avenue North station at about 75%, and a May City update projected overall completion in May 2027 or earlier.

The beach ends are a different matter. The project site still says access at 3rd and 8th Avenue North will be closed "until summer 2026." That summer is over, and the City's status page still lists both as closed. No individual reopening date has been published for any of the six closed north ends. Plan the season as if they stay fenced.

Taken together, the two projects line up like this. The outfall work is forecast to wrap up in May 2027 with a contract deadline of June 4, and the Pier is due in July. For about the next eight months, the downtown beach is defined by what's open between them.

The Beach Between the Fences

Under a separate Beach Access Restoration Project, the City hired Infinite Construction under a $2,591,232.96 contract to rebuild 30 of its 40 beach access points, with less pavement and what the City calls a more natural, "Old Florida" look. Some ends that used to have benches now have fewer. Some that had none now have one or more. Here is the City's beach access status table for the downtown stretch:

Broad Avenue South and 13th Avenue South sit on either side of the Pier, and the City made them the official pedestrian bypasses. Restrooms are open at both, and the City says they will stay open for the whole project. At the Pier itself, the stairs, restrooms, showers and 12th Avenue South west of Gulf Shore Boulevard South are all closed. The western third of the Pier parking lot at 12th Avenue South and Gulf Shore Boulevard South is still open to the public.

Bring the parking details into the season too. The City lists the 100 and 200 blocks of Broad Avenue South and the 13th Avenue South accesses as visitor-metered. Other parking on Broad Avenue South is for resident permit holders only. The City's beach parking page lists the meter rate at $5 per hour and bans parking from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. According to the City's beach parking FAQ, City residents and City property owners can get free permits at City Hall, and Collier County residents and property owners outside city limits can get free permits at locations around the county.

The rebuilt ends also bring back memorial benches. The City is installing new benches at each beach end and trying to replace plaques damaged by Hurricane Ian, timed to when each end is rebuilt. It is not taking new bench donations or plaque requests right now.

Where a Fishing Rod Goes This Season

The Pier was the downtown spot for fishing from a structure, and that won't be back until July. Crayton Cove's Naples City Dock at 880 12th Avenue South is the obvious waterfront stand-in a few blocks east, but the City's dock FAQ prohibits fishing and bait-netting there. The dock is open to the public from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. for everything else. For casting from the sand, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offers Florida residents a no-cost shoreline saltwater license for fishing from shore or a structure attached to shore. Nonresidents can't get the shoreline license. They need a regular nonresident saltwater license, which FWC lists starting at $17 for three days. Licensing is general information here, so confirm what applies to you with FWC directly.

The City Pier rules document dated December 2021 includes a one-pole limit and a ban on shark fishing. Check it again before the first cast in July, since posted rules can change for a new structure.

If you own on or near these avenue ends and want to know how two public projects finishing in mid-2027 could affect your street, Naples Coastal Living tracks the City project records block by block. Request a Private Market Update and Amanda Van Slyke will walk you through what the timelines mean for your address.