What's Open, What's Next: A Resident's Read on Fort Myers Beach This Summer
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
If you live on the island, you already know the shorthand people use off-island: "Is Fort Myers Beach back yet?" The honest answer for the summer of 2026 is that the question itself is wrong. The island is neither in recovery mode nor fully rebuilt. It is in a specific middle chapter where permanent buildings are finally clearing the permit stage while daily life continues to run through food trucks, resort venues, and pop-ups that were supposed to be temporary two years ago.
This post is a practical map of that middle chapter. Where the permanent construction is happening, where the food trucks still are, and what's actually on the calendar between now and Labor Day.
For three years, Times Square has been a place where things were planned. In the last eight months, it has finally become a place where things are approved and starting.
Here is the current state, project by project:
| Site | Owner / project | Status as of mid-2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 50 Old San Carlos Blvd (former Kilwins) | Carlos L. Chavez, three-story mixed-use with Meli's Ice Cream Shop on the ground floor and a residence above | Approved unanimously by Town Council on Dec. 15, with an open first floor for Chavez's ice cream vending truck concept and a one-bedroom apartment spanning floors two and three |
| Sunset Beach parcel | Persaud Properties FL Investment, $13M three-story building | Three-story building set to break ground in early July on the site near Times Square |
| Two Times Square parcels facing Lynn Hall Memorial Park | Shlomo Melloul, three-story with rooftop bar, retail, and restaurant | Plans submitted for a three-story building on two Times Square parcels, which would include a rooftop bar, retail space and restaurant; under town review |
| Fort Myers Beach Pier | Lee County | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still reviewing the county's plans to rebuild the pier, with completion expected in August 2027 |
The Chavez project is the one worth watching, and not because of its size. It is roughly 2,800 square feet on a lot of about 1,200. What matters is that it is the first permanent building approved for Times Square since Hurricane Ian erased it from the map, and while a three-story ice cream shop with residential space above may seem modest in scale, its approval carries outsized significance for a community still wrestling with how, and whether, Times Square should be rebuilt at all.
That is the shift. For three years, the answer to "can you rebuild here?" was effectively unanswered. Now there is a paper trail that says yes, with conditions. One of those conditions is quietly significant: a last-minute revision to the agreement requires Chavez to pay a proportionate share toward a future wave-mitigation wall if the town constructs one. If you own property near the beach core, that clause is a preview of the cost-sharing conversations coming for the whole district.
The confusing part of the island in 2026 is that many of the names you know are open, just not where you remember them, or not in the form you remember. A short reference for anyone giving directions to visiting family:
The pattern to notice: the resorts and their food and beverage venues are carrying the bulk of the island's programming while the traditional Times Square footprint slowly refills. That is a real shift in how a resident's Friday night looks compared to 2021.
Tourist-facing event lists tend to bury the things that matter to residents. Here is what is worth putting on a phone calendar.
Resident and local-worker perks
Weekly routines worth knowing
One-off dates through the season
For anyone hosting out-of-town family in July, the practical answer to "what is there to do" is now three overlapping calendars, not one downtown strip.
Two things to plan around.
First, expect noise and detour patterns to intensify, not ease, through the summer. The Chavez project is small on paper but sits directly on Old San Carlos. The Persaud project starts pouring in early July. Melloul's proposal, if approved, adds a third active site on the same two blocks. If you routinely walk to the pier area at sunset, the path is going to keep changing.
Second, the pier remains the calendar's biggest unknown. The developer behind the Times Square project noted frustration that construction hasn't yet begun on the pier more than three years after Hurricane Ian left it in pieces, calling it a long time, and Lee County officials say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still reviewing the county's plans to rebuild the pier. The August 2027 completion expectation is the current planning number, but every resident should treat it as a target rather than a promise.
If you take one thing from the summer of 2026, take this: the story of Fort Myers Beach is no longer whether it rebuilds. That question was answered in December when the town approved the first permanent building on Old San Carlos. The real story now is what kind of island the new codes, elevations, and cost-sharing agreements are producing. Smaller footprints. Stacked uses. Wave-mitigation clauses tucked into approvals. Resort campuses carrying the social calendar while the historic core refills one parcel at a time.
That is a different island than the one that existed in September 2022, and it is a different island than the one your neighbors were picturing in the first year after the storm. Neither better nor worse in a way any of us can settle over a summer. Just clearly, specifically different, in ways you can now point at on a map.
If you are thinking about your own next chapter on the island, whether that means staying, right-sizing, or helping a family member move down for the winter season, the current market rewards patience and specific questions over general ones. Mindful Move by Maria is built for exactly those conversations. Schedule a Consultation when you are ready to talk through what your options actually look like in this middle chapter.
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