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A P R I L 4 - 1 0 , 2025
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Surrounded by hats
COLLIER COUNTY
Withdrawal of eviction threat not last volley Suit filed over Naples health center lease By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com
In the midst of a tense legal standoff between two health care systems over a lease dispute, Golisano Children’s Health Center in North Naples — which serves thousands of Collier County families each year — will avoid an April 4 eviction from its location at the corner of Livingston and Pine Ridge roads. The legal wrangling, however, is likely to continue. Miami-based Nicklaus Children’s Hospital System, holder of the master lease on the space at 3361 Pine Ridge Road that houses the clinic, had threatened to evict Fort Myers-based Lee Health System, Inc., which runs the pediatric health center, prior to the end of its current lease that runs through September 2026. But Lee Health, which has operated the clinic for more than eight years, filed a lawsuit in Collier County March 24 against Nicklaus Children’s and the landlord, Pine Ridge Livingston LLC, seeking an injunction to stop the eviction and to allow Lee Health to exercise an option in the lease for two five-year extensions. The Lee Health System includes the Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, a 300,000-squareSee GOLISANO, Page 6A
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Jenna Bush Hager, second from right, pauses for a photo with attendees of the Hats in the Garden event held March 28 at the Naples Botanical Garden. Bush Hager was featured at this year’s event, which had the theme La Dolce Vita. See Page 11A for more photos. Photo by Liz Gorman
Vanderbilt library’s supporters bring petitions to library budget-setting prelude By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com
Public Services Department Director Tanya Williams came to the Collier County Public Library Advisory Board workshop Friday to educate it on formulating its requests for county commissioners’ upcoming 2026 budget deliberations. She wasn’t the only one bringing enlightenment.
A group of four residents joined with a letter, a petition and comments, representing nearly 1,000 people from the neighborhoods around the Vanderbilt Beach Library, 788 Vanderbilt Beach Road, in Naples, asking for assurances it will continue to operate as it has since 1981. No one has said the library will be closed. But Collier County, with advice from efficiency consultants Resource X/Tyler Tech, has emphasized cutting costs and monetizing assets while it pursues its priorities in the county’s
2025 strategic plan. That makes library patrons nervous for several reasons. Marsha Oenick, who organized the petition and procured a slot for it on change.org, pointed them out before the meeting: • The Vanderbilt Beach building lies within the orbit of the Headquarters Library, 3.3 miles away at 2385 Orange Blossom Drive. Built in 2002, it has the designation of a regional library. See LIBRARY, Page 8A
Many restaurants opened, closed in first quarter of 2025 North Naples
Tim Aten Knows Tim Aten
In an effort to snag a piece of the high-volume tourist season, many restaurants launched during the first three months of the year in Southwest Florida.
North Naples saw the most activity in the first quarter of 2025. Tigress, an open-air Cantonese chophouse, and its Easy Tiger rooftop lounge launched in January atop the newly built Perry Hotel Naples next to The Bay House on the Cocohatchee River. Other January launches included Waxin’s, a Swedish-American restaurant in
the former space of The Counter burger bar at Mercato; Lujacks All-American Grill in the former Fountain Park space of The Pearl; and Bella Atalia Ristorante in Real Seafood Co.’s vacated space along Vanderbilt Beach Road. In February, Sonny’s Pizzeria & Sports Bar completed its transformation of the former longtime Zookie’s on Immokalee
Road. In that same retail strip, the Wingstop fast-casual chain launched a new location in March. In late February, Jimmy P’s Burgers & More opened an anxiously awaited second North Naples location in Vanderbilt Commons on Vanderbilt Beach Road. See ATEN KNOWS, Page 8A
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