Ask anyone at a downtown Bonita Springs coffee counter what's new this year and they'll list it off fast: Wichcraft opened, that bar across from Benson's is almost done, HoneyHole is coming. Ask how many of those things have actually opened their doors in 2026, and the list gets a lot shorter.
One restaurant has opened on Old 41 this year. Everything else residents mention is still under construction, still delayed, or still more than a year out. Meanwhile, a short drive west on Bonita Beach Road, a different kind of build-out just crossed a milestone.
The One Thing That Opened
Wichcraft Gourmet Sandwiches opened in Entrada Plaza in downtown Bonita Springs in April 2026. The chef-driven sandwich shop comes from Caitlin Emery-Schewe and Brandon Schewe, the same pair behind The Bohemian, Canary Club, and Downtown Coffee & Wine. The couple has spent roughly six years steadily reshaping this stretch of downtown, one concept at a time, and Wichcraft is their fourth.
The build itself tells you something about how they operate. The space carries indoor and outdoor seating, a marble bar, and a private chef's room built for small dinners and events, the same layered, design-forward approach they used at Canary Club, where three-day fermented sourdough becomes pizza and pillowy pita served alongside wood-fired mezze. It's a small footprint with a lot of intention behind it, which is a different growth model than what's happening a few minutes away.
That distinction matters for anyone trying to make sense of downtown's pace this year. Wichcraft isn't evidence of a corridor filling in fast. It's evidence of one ownership group with four concepts now open on the same few blocks.
The Bar That's Still Not Open
Drive past the lot across from Benson's Grocery and you'll see why residents keep asking about it. Hide•A•Wai, an open-air bar planned for 25301 S Tamiami Trail, has been under construction for months while owners Ben and Alex Voss of Alligator Bay Distillers work through design changes and build-out. When it opens, the concept is built around fresh-pressed mojitos made with sugarcane juice pressed on site, sourced locally from Farmer Mike's U-Pick.
It's a genuinely local idea, tied to a local supplier, from local distillers. It's also, as of this fall, still not open. That gap between "announced" and "operating" is the same gap that shows up everywhere else on this corridor right now.
HoneyHole Is Expected in 2027
As WINK News reported, the other name residents bring up is HoneyHole Downtown, a live-music-driven restaurant from the team behind SugarShack, one of downtown's most established spots. The owner is also building two more full-scale restaurants nearby, Telephone North and Telephone South. But HoneyHole itself is expected to open in early 2027, not this year.
Longtime residents describe the shift in Old 41's character as real, even if the newest additions haven't landed yet. WINK News quoted a longtime Bonita resident describing the past:
"There was no place to hang out, have fun."
That's the before. The after is SugarShack, Canary Club, and a corridor that finally has somewhere to go on a Friday night, even while its next wave of openings is still a year away.
Development on Bonita Beach Road
While Old 41 has one ownership group with four concepts now open and a handful of delayed builds, Midtown at Bonita, a mixed-use development on Bonita Beach Road, crossed a real milestone at the end of August. As of August 31, 2026, the project reached 75% occupancy on its commercial roster. Already open on site is Paradiso Bonita Springs, a 400-unit luxury apartment community, and the retail lineup has been filling in around it with tenants like Airport Donuts, the Naples-based craft doughnut business announced for the site in June, and Fresh Monkee, a shake concept built around fruit, vegetables, and nut butters.
A few minutes from there, Imperial 41 is taking shape as a second major mixed-use project, with Oberweis Ice Cream & Dairy already committed to its commercial area alongside retail, services, and a planned riverfront restaurant space. Imperial 41 is expected to open in 2027, the same year HoneyHole finally lands on Old 41.
Put those two timelines side by side and the broader picture of Bonita Springs' growth this year becomes clear. Old 41 is deepening, not widening. It's the same small group of owners with four concepts now open on streets they already know. Bonita Beach Road is where the square footage is actually multiplying, with a leasing pace that outpaced downtown's own restaurant openings by a wide margin in 2026.
Neither pattern is a problem. A corridor that grows by reinvestment from owners who already live and work there tends to hold its character. A corridor that grows by leasing up a master-planned development tends to hold its pace. Bonita Springs is doing both at once, just not in the same six blocks.
What's Actually on the Calendar This Fall
The Bonita Springs Downtown Alliance has three confirmed dates worth marking:
- September 25, 7:30 a.m. at Vasari Country Club: the YMCA Charity Golf Scramble
- October 15: the Art-Music Walk through downtown
- October 31, 5 to 8 p.m.: Trick-or-Treat Down Old 41, with an official road closure this year from Dean Street to Wilson Street
None of these depend on a construction timeline. They're the parts of downtown Bonita Springs that show up every season regardless of what's still being built, and this fall they're worth putting on the calendar before the corridor's next wave of openings catches up to the conversation about them.
The Season Ahead
By the time HoneyHole and Imperial 41 both open in 2027, Old 41 will likely feel like it caught up to its own reputation. Until then, the corridor's pattern this year isn't a wave of new storefronts. It's one ownership group with four concepts now open, a rum bar still finishing its build-out, and a mile of Bonita Beach Road that did more leasing in a single month than downtown did in restaurant openings all year.
If you're weighing what any of that means for property here, whether you already own on Old 41 or you're watching Bonita Beach Road's momentum from a distance, the Peter Rose Team tracks these shifts as they happen, block by block, and is glad to talk through what they mean for you.