Bonita Springs’ highly anticipated Rooftop at Riverside food truck park is celebrating its grand opening Jan. 11 in the heart of downtown on Old 41 Road.
More than two years after receiving approval from Bonita Springs City Council and 20 months after the groundbreaking, the city’s first rooftop bar is finally becoming a reality.
“We’re just so thrilled, just overcome with emotion and overcome with support from not only family and friends, but people in the community,” co-developer and owner Chris Magnus said.
Magnus has lived in Southwest Florida for more than 30 years, working for many years with his father doing maintenance work and eventually making his way into the development industry, working on local commercial parcels, such as the Johnny Malloy’s-anchored plaza.
He saw the impact Rebecca Maddox’s Celebration Park in East Naples has had on the redevelopment of the Bayshore community and wanted to bring that to Bonita Springs. Rooftop at Riverside is part of an effort to revitalize the downtown Bonita Springs community, making it more of a destination.
“We saw [Maddox’s] project and we said, ‘This is amazing’. You’ve got folks from all walks of life sitting down at the same picnic table, having their lunch, having their dinner,” Magnus said. “We want to bring that community aspect of Bonita, because we have so many wonderful people and such a great community here already. We want to give them a place to gather and a place to enjoy some terrific food and a nice cold drink.”
Those who visit Rooftop at Riverside will have a choice of six different food trucks to grab a bite, including Butcher’s Blvd, Zoey’s Pizza, No Manches MX, OCN Seafood Co, Crooked Cow Creamery and Ma Petite Creperie. Magnus said picking just six trucks was a near impossible task.
“All the folks that we met were so kind and so gracious and provided such great hospitality. Eventually, it came down to the [trucks] that we have here. They’re not only incredible and wonderful chefs, but they are absolute experts and professionals with regard to hospitality and terrific businesspeople,” he said. “I know that every one of these folks here are going to treat our guests the way that we would treat our guests.”
Customers can pair their food with a specialty cocktail or craft beers from staff at the bar. The entire bar concept and design was created by Phil Wills as seen on the reality show “Bar Rescue,” and he has trained all the bartenders and barbacks on his specialty cocktail beverage program.
Magnus made sure that Bonita Springs’ history is seen inside Rooftop at Riverside. The cocktails are named after people and places in the city’s history, such as Piper’s Haven Rum Punch named after the founders of the Everglades Wonder Gardens, and Belle Myers Gin Cooler, named after the vessel that carried passengers to and from Bonita Springs in the early 1900s. Inside the restaurant is a clock from Lawhon General Store from the 1930s.
“Our entire theme on the inside is about the history of Bonita Springs, so we’re bringing this fusion of this new food truck concept, while still respecting our heritage and where Bonita Springs came from,” Magnus said.
Rooftop at Riverside will officially be open at 11 a.m. Jan 11, with opening weekend coinciding with the Bonita Springs National Art Festival that is expected to bring more than 5,000 people to downtown at Riverside Park.
“We’re just so happy to finally be at this point and really happy to share all the hard work that we’ve put into this place and all the hard work that all the food truck operators have put into their projects,” Magnus said.
The Rooftop at Riverside bar will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 11 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The food trucks will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
