SUB S CRIBE TODAY F O R L O C A L S, BY L O C A L S
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M A R C H 1 4 - M A R C H 2 0 , 2025
3A | THE AVENUE ‘A GO’
5A | THERE FOR YOU
8B | ASIAN INSPIRATION
that will sit at entrance to city’s downtown
provide golden opportunities
opens Tigress at The Perry Hotel
Board approves The Avenue, a project
Tim Aten Knows
Collier, Lee Crisis Care K9s
First Bite: Celebrity Chef Dale Talde
A tie for FC Naples, a win for the city
Tim Aten
Work in progress at Waterside Shops Q: What’s happening to the Barnes & Noble building at Waterside Shops? – Starr Guimond, Naples A: The interior of the former Barnes & Noble building at Waterside Shops is being demolished to enable the buildout of that two-story space for Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn home furnishing stores, which are expected to relocate there later this year or early next year. While it was initially believed that the national retailers, jointly owned by San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma Inc., would each take separate floors in the freestanding outparcel at 5377 Tamiami Trail N., the building will be divided more vertically instead, according to the latest architectural plans created by Interior Architects for The Forbes Co., the Michigan-based owner of Waterside Shops. An L-shaped, 2,033-square-foot outdoor terrace with a custom pergola will be created on the second-floor of the northwestern corner for displaying patio furniture, slightly decreasing the building’s overall square footage, plans show. Demolition work involving a large crane towering over the corner of Waterside Shops has been highly visible lately at U.S. 41 North and Seagate Drive, and plans show many more changes See ATEN KNOWS, Page 9A
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Young fans watch players from the FC Naples soccer club warm up before their first game Saturday night at Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples. FC Naples and the Chattanooga Red Wolves played to a 1-1 draw in a USL League One match. But it was a big win for the community: There were 4,618 in attendance, with local fans cheering for their first-ever professional sports franchise. See Page 13B for a story and more photos of the team’s first match. Photo by Chris Tilley
Celebrating life at NCH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit reunion By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com
For new parents, few things can be scarier than learning your newborn needs to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. And for the physicians and other medical staff, taking care of these tiny, helpless patients also means making sure the anxious parents know what to expect every step of the way during a time of great fear and stress. That high-stakes atmosphere of the NICU can lead to extraordinary bonds between the medical providers and the families whose fragile babies are fighting for survival. Those bonds were apparent at an early March reunion hosted by Naples Comprehensive Health for former NICU patients and their families, doctors, nurses, volunteers and other staff.
Dr. Bridget Buzzella, NCH NICU medical director, meets with the Cary family at NCH North. Photo by Liz Gorman
The 19-bed, Level II NICU at NCH North is the only such facility in Collier County. It offers 24hour board-certified neonatologist coverage and neonatal ICU-trained nurses, and respiratory therapists
in collaboration with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
Strong bonds formed in NICU
Newborns can require time in the
NICU for a wide range of reasons, including being born prematurely, having respiratory issues or being born with an infection passed on by the mother. Neonatologist Dr. Bridget Buzzella, who serves as medical director of the NICU at NCH, said families go through “lots of different stages” when their baby is admitted to the unit. “The very first stage is fear of the unknown,” Buzzella said in an interview at the reunion held outside on the NCH North campus. “Their baby is born small and fragile and needs all kinds of tubes and wires and equipment that you can’t even imagine as a parent when you come and visit your baby in the NICU. They’re fearful if their baby is going to survive. So, we teach them; they learn little by little and the babies get better, and the See NICU REUNION, Page 6A
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