The Port Royal Club's First Season Back: What the New Clubhouse Calendar Looks Like From Gordon Drive

A summer filing with the city said the new Port Royal Club clubhouse would have its grand opening this month. A later set of applications from the Club puts an event called Grand Opening on December 10. Between those dates, and for months afterward, the season at 2900 Gordon Drive follows a schedule the Club filed with the City of Naples in late summer. The building's own rules, down to when the pool closes and when the sunset bar doors shut, were settled in 2024.

So the first winter in the new clubhouse arrives mostly planned in advance. It comes in stages, with dates, guest counts and setup days already on the public record.

Four winters, one food truck

The old clubhouse was one story. Hurricane Ian destroyed it on September 28, 2022, as the Naples Press reported in its coverage of the rebuild approval. The Club spent the following seasons making do. The Naples Press reported that members had a food truck, and later beachside trailers serving lunch and drinks. The Club also asked for a temporary dining tent. At a September 2024 hearing, City Council voted 6 to 1 to deny it, according to the Naples Daily News.

The plan for the permanent building went through earlier that year. On August 21, 2024, Council unanimously approved the conditional use that allowed a roughly $100 million, three-level clubhouse on the Club's site, which dates to 1959. It covers indoor and outdoor dining, a new pool and deck, and a two-story garage. The building is elevated and built to current standards. Hart Howerton is the architect and Suffolk Construction is the builder. Suffolk's project page describes about 62,000 square feet of clubhouse amenities, dining areas and kitchens. It adds about 12,000 square feet of covered outdoor space and 10,000 square feet of open-air event space and pools. At approval, the Naples Press reported a different measure: the clubhouse growing from 32,000 to 77,000 square feet. The two numbers come from different sources and likely count different things. Either way, the new building is more than twice the size of the old one.

By early summer 2026, the timeline had firmed up. In a petition to the city's Planning Department, the Club wrote:

"Reconstruction of the clubhouse is nearing completion, and the Club's management is finetuning operational details in anticipation of grand opening in October 2026 and the new clubhouse's inaugural 2026-2027 season."

A season already on file

The two filings use the same words for different dates. The petition points to October, while the Club's event applications schedule the Grand Opening for December. Neither filing says which day members can start using the building. In August, the Club filed applications for a series of private events, and city staff sent them to Council for the September 16, 2026 meeting. The staff memo lists the Port Royal Club five times among the eight new event applications.

The order says a lot. Welcome Back comes first, in the week before Thanksgiving. The Grand Opening follows three weeks later. After the holidays, the Seafood Extravaganza repeats once a month from January through March. Every application is listed as a private event. The city's Special Events Committee reviewed each one and, in the memo's words, "has no concerns."

These events went to Council for one reason, which the memo states for each of them: "City council approval required due to amplified sound." They sat on the September 16 consent agenda. The City Clerk's preliminary voting record shows the consent agenda passing 7 to 0. However, the line for the special events item has no vote recorded, and the page says it is not the official record. The final approved minutes will be the record to check.

What the opening adds on the Gulf side

The same summer petition explains the setting for these evenings. In 2024, Council had approved certain areas of the Gulf-front grounds for outdoor dining. In 2026, the Club asked for more, citing "the growing popularity of outdoor dining options" and requests from members. The request adds 4,370 square feet at ground level, centrally located and facing the Gulf, with 18 tables, 72 chairs and 26 chaise lounges. The Fire Marshal had already approved the life safety plan for the area.

So the first season will have more seating facing the Gulf than the original 2024 plan provided. That fits a club whose members spent the interim years eating lunch from a trailer. City design-review filings from March 2026 list restaurants, a banquet room and a pool among the facility's uses. The Club has not publicly named a chef or any of the restaurants.

The rules written into the building

The 2024 approval came after about 10 hours of hearings. The Club made $2 million in design changes before the vote, moving the pool and dining area within the site to reduce noise. Council then attached conditions, which the Naples Press listed. Several of them will shape an ordinary evening at the new club:

1. The pool is open from dawn to dusk.
2. The south-facing sliding doors of the second-level sunset bar close once the bar reaches 50 percent occupancy.
3. The south-facing balcony of the third-level after-dinner lounge is enclosed.
4. An 11-foot landscaped wall runs along the south property line, with no signs, speakers or lights attached. It steps down to 6 feet farther along.
5. The private beach path from the south parking lot, in use since 1959, is to be eliminated. A new emergency access path is to be added near the north property line.
6. If Code Enforcement confirms three noise violations within 12 months, the Club must go back before Council.

Together with the event calendar, these rules set the pattern of a night. Swimming ends when the sun goes down. Sunset drinks happen in a room whose doors close as it fills. On event nights, the amplified sound Council considered in September stays subject to the same 12-month noise review. None of these conditions applied to the old one-story clubhouse.

Event weeks on Gordon Drive

For residents who live along Gordon Drive and don't belong to the Club, the filings show what event weeks will look like from the street. None of the Club's applications request a street closure. Each one lists onsite parking. Most include tents, and setup starts days ahead:

• Welcome Back: setup runs 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. starting November 16, with takedown on November 20.
• Grand Opening: setup begins December 7, with takedown on December 11.
• Seafood Extravaganza: setup begins January 11, February 12 and March 8, with takedown the day after each event.

That's about four days of vendor activity at the Club's entrance for each large evening. Expect service vehicles on Gordon Drive in the days before, not just on the night itself.

December 10 also overlaps with another event. City staff noted that An Evening on 5th is scheduled the same night on Fifth Avenue South and said the two events will not conflict. For Port Royal households, that puts the Club's Grand Opening, from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., on the same evening as An Evening on 5th.

The Santa Brunch and Nutcracker on December 20 is the smallest event of the season, with an estimated 250 guests, a daytime schedule and no tents. New Year's Eve runs latest, from 6:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m., for an estimated 400 guests. The last Seafood Extravaganza is March 11, 2027. That marks the end of the Club's filed season, which runs from a Welcome Back in mid-November through the busiest weeks of winter.

Karen Van Arsdale has lived in Naples since 1981 and knew the Port Royal Club long before Ian. If you're weighing how the new clubhouse and its first season fit your plans in Port Royal, Karen Van Arsdale would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a private consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.