Collier County wanted to rebuild the Clam Pass boardwalk during the one quiet stretch the beach has had in nearly four decades. That stretch is the year the resort next door spent closed for renovation, and it ends in January. The repair contract still has no vendor. For anyone who walks or rides from Seagate Drive to the Gulf, that means repair crews could be on the boardwalk during the busiest months of the year.
The Quiet Year at 475 Seagate Drive
Naples Grande Beach Resort says it is "Closed for renovations through December 31, 2026." Guest rooms, meeting spaces and core resort facilities are closed, and the resort expects guests back in January 2027. The project began April 1, 2026, according to Gulfshore Business, which called it the biggest overhaul since the resort opened in 1987.
The resort will also have a new name. The Naples Daily News reported on September 11 that the 474-room property will reopen as the first Signia Hilton on Florida's Gulf Coast. Hilton's own release gives the debut as January 2027, with reservations open for stays beginning January 1, 2027. It promises redesigned rooms, new restaurants, wellness amenities and gathering spaces, but it doesn't name any of the new restaurants.
The resort's closure matters to the park because the two are run together. Collier County lists Naples Grande as the Clam Pass beach vendor, responsible for the tram, food, beer and wine, cabanas, towels, chairs and sundries. When Gulfshore Business announced the renovation, it reported that Clam Pass beach services and Rhode's End restaurant would keep running during construction, along with select villas, the Naples Tennis Academy and the Naples Grande Golf Club. The resort's restaurant page still lists Rhode's End as open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. under a "Beach Menu 2026." That same page also carries the closed-through-December notice, so check service on the day before you plan lunch around it.
What the County Is Repairing
The park itself is Collier County's. Collier Parks lists Clam Pass as open year-round from 8 a.m. to sunset, with a three-quarter-mile boardwalk through the mangroves and a free tram to the beach. Parking is $10 without a Collier County beach parking permit. The boardwalk is also where Hurricane Ian left damage that still needs repair.
The county opened sealed bids for Bid No. 26-8629, "Clam Pass Park - Hurricane Ian Repairs," on May 22, 2026. A GovTribe summary of the solicitation describes a FEMA-funded project with three parts:
- Base bid: new 316 stainless steel straps, clamps, hangers and conduit supports for the utilities along roughly 3,200 linear feet of timber boardwalk, plus plumbing, electrical and communications repairs at the concessions platform, including a new exterior transformer and panel.
- Alternate No. 1: spot structural repairs, including corroded hardware, hurricane clips and handrails at specific locations.
- Alternate No. 2: replacing the lumber across about 35,200 square feet of boardwalk, including roughly 10,000 linear feet of new Ipe deck boards.
The same summary says the contractor gets 150 calendar days from Notice to Proceed to reach substantial completion. Late penalties are $2,702 per day, or $4,285 per day if the full deck replacement is chosen. The contractor is expected to run several crews at once and work weekends and evenings as needed. The summary also says these deadlines were set to line up with the Naples Grande shutdown and renovation schedule.
That plan made sense. The tram runs on the boardwalk, and the resort operates both the tram and the concession being rewired. The obvious time to do the work was while the resort's guest rooms were empty.
Where the Schedule Stands
Five companies bid. On the county's OpenGov procurement results page, the totals ran from $2,175,375 by Infinite Construction, LLC to $8,804,475 by Thomas Marine Construction, Inc. CarbonSix Construction, OneSource Construction Company and Select Development Group, LLC came in between. The low bid came in below the $2.5 million base-bid budget in the GovTribe summary. The addenda page lists a Notice of Recommended Award dated August 26, 2026. The results page still reads:
"No vendor has been selected yet"
Under the solicitation, the Board of County Commissioners makes the final award in public session. Only after that can a contractor get a Notice to Proceed and start the 150-day clock.
Here is the math. If a Notice to Proceed went out November 1, the substantial-completion deadline would fall around March 31, 2027. That window covers the resort's January reopening, the holidays and the heart of season. Any later start pushes the deadline further into spring. The renovation was supposed to give the county an empty resort to work beside. Instead, the boardwalk work will likely run while the Signia's first guests are using the same boardwalk to reach the beach.
Public notices haven't described closures, detours or tram interruptions for this work. The weekend and evening crew requirement suggests the work may be phased around public use. Collier Parks updates the Clam Pass page and posts county news, and those are the places to check before heading out once crews arrive.
The Sand Was Its Own Project
The boardwalk contract is separate from the sand work at and near Clam Pass.
- November 2025: The county mobilized the Clam Pass Sand Reclamation Project on November 3. Crews dug shoaled sand out of the inlet, placed it on nearby beaches, restored dunes along a 2,000-foot stretch, and restored mangroves where storm overwash had buried them. The county forecast completion in late February or early March 2026.
- Spring 2026: The county scheduled pressure-washing and painting of the south parking-lot wall from March 2 through April 1, with intermittent lot closures Mondays through Wednesdays. That work has ended.
- Late October 2026: The county's current beach renourishment project covers 3.5 miles from Doctors Pass south to just below 21st Avenue South. Work runs six days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., beaches stay open with small fenced work zones, and the county expects to finish before year-end. The county describes the whole reach as "all within the City of Naples," starting at Doctors Pass and running south, away from Clam Pass.
So the heavy equipment working south of Doctors Pass this fall belongs to a different project. The Clam Pass job still to come is mostly carpentry and wiring.
The Calendar Between Now and the Reopening
The beach still has its own seasons. The City of Naples sets sea turtle season as May 1 through October 31, and nests hatch through October. Saturday is the last day of the 2026 season.
After turtle season, the next fixture on the Clam Pass calendar is the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's free guided naturalist walks. They run Monday through Saturday from December through April, take about two hours, and require a reservation. That five-month season overlaps almost entirely with the likely repair window and with the Signia's first months open. Morning walks through the mangroves will likely share the boardwalk with new resort guests and possibly a repair crew.
For Seagate and Park Shore, the planned order was repair first, reopening second. As of this week, both are likely to happen at the same time. A rewired concession platform and stronger boardwalk supports will last much longer than one busy winter. The near-term question is how the county phases the work while the boardwalk is at its busiest.
If you own a home within walking distance of Clam Pass, the improvements coming to that boardwalk and to the resort beside it are part of your property's story. At Janine Monfort, Janine follows these Seagate and Park Shore changes as closely as she follows the sales. When you want to see how the beach next door affects your home's value, start here: Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
