Founders Square Already Recast Its Own Restaurant Row

"Our entire Panda team is grateful to serve the Naples community by providing nearly 40 new jobs and supporting local organizations through various fundraising opportunities."

That's Lynnette Velez, Panda Express's area coach of operations, speaking at the February ribbon-cutting for the new location at 8955 Founders Square Drive. If you live in Indigo Lakes, that corner is close enough to feel like an extension of your own driveway. Immokalee Road and Collier Boulevard sit a few minutes from the gate, and Founders Square Plaza has been the answer to "where do we eat tonight" for long enough that most residents stopped paying attention to what's actually there and started running on memory instead.

That memory is out of date. The restaurant row at The Pointe, the section of Founders Square built specifically as a dining and retail hub, has already swapped part of its own lineup since it first opened. The plaza most people describe when they talk about Founders Square is not quite the plaza that exists today.

The Cast You Remember Isn't The Cast That's There

When The Pointe at Founders Square opened in 2021 and 2022, the opening class of restaurants included Outback Steakhouse in its third Collier County location, Skillets in its twelfth, I Heart Mac & Cheese making its first Southwest Florida appearance, Fuji Sushi Bar & Asian Bistro, Tacos & Tequila Cantina, Slicers Hoagies, and South Street City Oven & Grill. That roster got repeated across enough local coverage that it became the default answer to "what's at Founders Square."

The most recently published tenant list for The Pointe, from Barron Collier Commercial's own update in late 2025, tells a different story. It names T-Yummi Vietnamese Cuisine, Kelly's Roast Beef, Fuji Sushi, a modern steakhouse concept, South Street City Oven & Grill, and Skillets. Outback Steakhouse and I Heart Mac & Cheese are no longer part of the named lineup. Fuji Sushi, Skillets, and South Street have held their spots. Two new names have taken the others' place.

None of the coverage of that plaza spells out exactly when or why that swap happened, and this isn't the place to speculate. What matters if you live five minutes away is simpler: a restaurant row that looks like a finished project from the road is still turning over tenants, and the version you remember from opening week is already one generation behind the version currently open.

What Opened This Year, With Real Dates

Two arrivals in 2026 are confirmed, dated, and worth knowing if you haven't been back to that corner in a while.

Panda Express opened February 7, with the ribbon-cutting and Lunar New Year celebration on February 17. The outparcel itself has an interesting backstory: the land was purchased in March 2025 for roughly $2.1 million by CFT NV Developments LLC, an entity connected to the Cherng family, the same family that founded Panda Express nationally. That's not a franchisee testing the market. That's the parent company building on its own land at the corner of your neighborhood.

Lake Park Diner's second location opened May 1 on a 1.4-acre lot between the 7-Eleven and The Pointe. This is the same restaurant group behind Naples-based Paul Fleming Restaurant Group, whose founder also created P.F. Chang's and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar earlier in his career. The Founders Square build is meant to serve as the prototype location for future Lake Park Diner expansion outside Florida, which makes this particular restaurant a bit more consequential than a typical second location.

Here's the part worth sitting with: an earlier Naples Press column had this same Lake Park Diner targeted to open "near the end of this year or in early 2024." It opened in May 2026. That's roughly two and a half years past its original target, on a project that had already broken ground and had a specific lot assigned.

Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, an upscale casual steak and seafood concept at 8850 Founders Square Drive, also now has posted hours and a working phone line. It replaced a previously announced 110 Grill franchise concept for that same address. The identity of the restaurant on that lot changed before it ever opened.

The Corner Behind the Corner

The restaurant news gets the attention, but Founders Square's less photogenic half has quietly finished building out. Sunshine Ace Hardware anchors a 20,000-square-foot retail section called The Plaza. Spenga, the spin-strength-yoga fitness concept, and Restore, a wellness center offering cryotherapy and IV drip therapy, both operate nearby. A 7-Eleven with a car wash and fuel station sits along the frontage. Physicians Regional Healthcare System runs a medical office there, and Collier Urgent Care has its doors open too. A three-story, 110,000-square-foot Life Storage facility and the 400-unit Pearl Founders Square apartment community round out the development.

None of that is glamorous. All of it is functional, and for a resident who needs a hardware run or an urgent care visit more often than a tasting menu, this is the half of Founders Square that actually gets used week to week.

Havana Libre Is Still the One to Watch

One name worth tracking is Havana Libre Cuban Cuisine, owned by Angel Madera and his family, who have run their original location on Golden Gate Parkway since 2017. As of the most recent published update on the development, Havana Libre was still described as forthcoming, slated for a 3,200-square-foot spot in The Plaza with a full bar and outdoor seating. Whether it has opened by the time you read this isn't something we can confirm here, and that uncertainty is worth sitting with rather than papering over. Founders Square has a documented habit of running years behind its own announcements, and Havana Libre is the clearest remaining example of a restaurant that's been "coming this year" for more than one year.

The wider corridor tells a similar story of ongoing change. Just up the road, Bernwood Tavern & Cucina opened this year in Pebblebrooke Center, the other shopping destination that shows up alongside Founders Square in most descriptions of Indigo Lakes' surroundings. The restaurant scene near this gate isn't static in either direction. It's mid-turnover on both sides of Collier Boulevard.

What This Means If You Live Five Minutes Away

If your mental map of Founders Square dates back to 2022, it's worth an actual drive-through rather than a memory check. Panda Express and Lake Park Diner are both open now, both confirmed with real dates, and both worth trying if you haven't. Oar & Iron has replaced the raw bar concept that was originally announced for that lot. The restaurant row's marquee names have shifted once already, quietly, without much fanfare, which means the next shift could happen the same way.

Treat any "opening this year" claim about that corner with the patience it's earned. Havana Libre may be open by now, or it may not be. The plaza has shown it operates on its own schedule, several years longer than most projects announce up front.

For residents, that's not a complaint. It's a reason to keep checking back rather than assuming you already know what's there.

If you're weighing what a home near a corner like this is actually worth, in a market where the surrounding retail keeps changing shape, Coastal Living Naples can walk you through what that means for value, timing, and the questions worth asking before you make a move of your own.