Three years after gaining initial design approval, the final piece of the Naples Square luxury mixed-use development got the green light to move forward with a restaurant featuring outdoor seating.
The Naples Design Review Board on Dec. 20 unanimously granted final design-review approval to a 3,500-square-foot commercial building at 325 12th St. S. that will house an as-yet-unnamed restaurant. The only recommendation was to remove gooseneck lighting fixtures that lit up the signage.
“This is a very clean, contemporary building and those goosenecks … are an industrial-warehouse type. It’s kind of out of context,” DRB Chair Steve Hruby said.
Mark McLean, national director of MHK Architecture, agreed to substitute something more in line with the architecture, noting those lighting fixtures were requested by a prior potential restaurant tenant. A tenant hasn’t been lined up yet.
The plans by WSR Naples Square Commercial, an affiliate of The Ronto Group, feature a 3,500-square-foot restaurant with 500 square feet of outdoor dining space. The maximum development potential was 5,291 square feet. City Council granted final approval in October, and DRB approval allows the developer to move forward with building permits. Once a restaurant is lined up, the developer will return to the DRB for signage approval.
The 20-acre Naples Square planned development, at the corner of Fifth Avenue South and Goodlette-Frank Road, was first approved by Council in 2013 as a walkable, bikeable community close to downtown. It’s still growing after its fourth phase, Quattro, was completed in late 2022. It’s being designed by MHK Architecture, with landscaping by Architectural Land Design Inc., both based in Naples.
The site is just north of the AC Marriott Hotel, east of Naples Square’s fourth piece, Quattro, and south of Naples Square 5, Encore, just west of Bayfront, which is awaiting permits to move forward with construction.
In 2021, the DRB asked that eight conditions on the commercial site be met, including color samples, signage, lighting choice and clarification on plantings. All were met, although signage by a restaurant tenant must receive approval once a restaurant is lined up.
“It was a little dark and shut in and everybody thought it would just be better to be open and a little more welcoming,” McLean said of the prior approval, adding that they added a louver system to the outdoor dining area, allowing them to open or close depending on the weather.
Colorful landscaping will surround the site. Landscape Architect Christian Andrea told the DRB plantings will include philodendron, cocoplum, clusia, asparagus, foxtail, muhly grass and a groundcover of Asian jasmine.
