For years, the honest answer to "where should we take them for dinner?" when out-of-town guests visited Cape Coral was a shrug and a drive across the bridge. That answer is out of date. Between February and April of 2026, three separate waterfront destinations either opened, matured, or filled in along a one-mile stretch of Cape Coral Parkway, and the South Cape now holds enough of its own to build a full Saturday without ever crossing the Caloosahatchee.
This is a field guide for people who already live here. If you've been away for the season, or you've just been driving past on autopilot, this is what changed while you weren't paying attention.
The three anchors, at a glance
| Destination | Where | What opened | Why residents care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bimini Square | 440 Cape Coral Pkwy E | Ribbon-cut Feb 5, 2026 | 218 apartments, Lee Health clinic, marina, walkable core |
| Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails | Behind Bimini Square | Late Feb / early March 2026 | Waterfront restaurant, 9,000 sq ft, infinity-edge concept |
| Slipaway Food Truck Park & Marina | 1811 Cape Coral Pkwy E | Opened 2025, now fully programmed | 10 food trucks, fuel dock, daily live music |
Three destinations, three different reasons to go, all reachable by boat or a short drive from anywhere in the Cape.
Bimini Square finally opened, and the ripple matters more than the building
After more than two years of construction, developer Larry Nygard on Feb. 5 cut the ribbon on Bimini Square, a $125 million mixed-use project developed by his North Dakota-based Crown Development along Cape Coral Boulevard. The development includes 218 residences, a health clinic, restaurants that are set to open soon and a marina. The building itself is worth seeing. The rooftop infinity pool at Bimini Square looks straight down the basin toward the river, and Lee Health's on-site clinic makes the ground floor feel more like a small downtown than a leasing office.
The rents tell you what kind of downtown Cape Coral is now trying to be. Rent for units at Bimini Square ranges from $1,600 to $5,000, showcasing the high-end housing options now available in downtown Cape Coral. That's a wide range on purpose. A studio at the low end and a three-bedroom water view at the top puts a lot of different residents inside one building, which is exactly what a functioning downtown needs.
Two things about the clinic are worth flagging even if you never plan to be a patient. "What makes Bimini Square different is that it brings multiple services together in one location, making care easier to navigate for patients and for families. Primary care for kids and adults. Cardiology, imaging, lab, infectious disease, pediatric rehab, and pediatric behavioral health all here in one building." Foot traffic during weekday mornings is now real, which is why the sidewalk cafes on Cape Coral Parkway are betting on lunch service they wouldn't have staffed a year ago.
Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails, and what Phelan is actually doing here
The restaurant behind Bimini Square is not a Deep Lagoon spinoff, even though early press releases suggested it would be. It's a new concept. Phelan Family Brands, which Grant owns along with his father Tony, also includes Pinchers, Phuzzy's Boat Shack, Texas Tony's, Two Fillets, CJ's on the Bay, Deep Lagoon Seafood, Chops (Bonita and Naples), Pazzo, Keewaydin's, Hogfish Harry's and The Bay House. Their newest venture, in a way, is a combination of four of those. "We took the best of Pinchers, Deep Lagoon, Hogfish Harry's and Keewaydin's," Phelan said. "We put our favorite menu items from those and put them on this menu."
That matters if you've eaten your way around Southwest Florida for a decade and thought you knew what to expect. The building is its own thing. When it does open, expect a 9,000-square-foot waterfront restaurant in a "unique setting with its own identity." "It's so amazing," Phelan said. "It's so cool. Think of it as an infinity-edge restaurant. When sitting down, you won't see the ground." The floor plate sits above the basin so that from a table, the water reads as horizon. That's a first for a South Cape restaurant.
Slipaway grew up
Slipaway opened as a curiosity. It's now the busiest waterfront venue in the Cape on a weekend afternoon, and the programming has caught up to the crowds. Slipaway features 10 unique food trucks offering diverse cuisines to satisfy every palate, from gourmet sandwiches and fresh seafood to international flavors and sweet treats. Guests can enjoy their meals at The Helm Bar, a full-service central bar pavilion, in six shaded seating pavilions, or along over 1,370 feet of scenic pathways and boardwalks surrounded by lush landscaping with unobstructed views of the Caloosahatchee River. The venue's 3.1-acre site accommodates 120 dedicated onsite parking spaces, plus complimentary overflow parking and a free shuttle available Friday through Sunday from 3–10 p.m.
The signature events are what have changed the calendar for regulars:
- Sip & Shop Night Market — local artisan vendors set up along the waterfront
- Wags on the Water — pet-focused vendor evenings, dog-friendly
- Makers Monday — Monday programming that used to be a dead night in South Cape
- Tuesday Bingo & Trivia at Slipaway, running through the summer
- Fourth of July Bash — the venue's inaugural Fourth of July Bash is planned as an annual waterfront celebration.
If you own a boat, one detail actually matters more than the food. "The boathouse burnt down. This is the next closest spot. So anybody going up river or down river, this is perfect." Since the old Boat House fire, Slipaway's fuel dock has effectively become the mid-river fill-up for the Cape. If you've been going all the way to Fort Myers to top off, stop.
The Parkway East cluster nobody's calling a district yet
The stretch of Cape Coral Parkway East between Slipaway and Del Prado has quietly turned into something. In April, WINK covered it as a shift residents were already feeling. From local favorites like Tito's Cantina to newer spots like Indian Breeze, and now Hibachi One, this part of Cape Coral Parkway East is starting to feel different. Jungle Bird sits in the same cluster. Together, the four rooms give you a Mexican, an Indian, a Japanese hibachi grill, and a tropical cocktail bar within a five-minute walk of one another.
The observation locals keep making is that the street is finally worth stopping on. Fort Myers local Jack Mount said this kind of variety could help more than just the new restaurants. He said it could help turn this from a pass-through area into more of a destination. A year ago it wasn't. Now it is.
A Saturday, actually mapped
If you want to test the thesis of this post yourself, here's the route:
- 10:00 a.m. — Coffee and breakfast at House of Omelets inside Bimini Square, sidewalk seating on Cape Coral Parkway.
- 11:30 a.m. — Walk the Bimini Square marina and the basin edge. If the tide is right, watch boats come in from the Gulf run.
- 12:30 p.m. — Drive or bike ten minutes east to Slipaway. Order lunch from two different trucks, split it, sit at The Helm Bar.
- 3:00 p.m. — Wander down to the Parkway East cluster. Cocktails at Jungle Bird, chips at Tito's, or hold out for hibachi.
- 7:30 p.m. — Dinner at Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails. Ask for a table where the infinity edge lines up with the sunset.
You have not left Cape Coral Parkway. You have not crossed the bridge. That is new.
What to circle on the August calendar
The single event worth planning around this month is the South Cape BaconFest Pub Crawl on Saturday, August 22, 2026, run out of the Cape Coral Entertainment District. It's a good excuse to try three or four of the newer rooms in one evening without committing to any of them. Slipaway's weekly programming continues through the month, and Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails is now taking reservations for prime waterfront tables that are already booking out on weekends.
For anyone who has lived in Cape Coral long enough to remember when Cape Coral Parkway went quiet at 8 p.m., the change this year is not subtle. Three waterfront anchors, one walkable cluster, and enough programming to fill a Saturday. It's the kind of shift that used to require a drive to Fort Myers Beach or Naples.
If you're thinking about what this new density of waterfront living, boating access, and downtown walkability means for property values on the Parkway corridor, the streets running south to the basin, or the canal blocks a few minutes back from the action, that's a longer conversation and worth having over a cortado. Reach out to Mark Breimeister any time. Let's Connect.
