Q: What do you know about the Oar and Iron restaurant going into the mall? — Jeff Lopez, Naples  

A: Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, a new upscale concept from a Boston-based restaurant group, plans several locations along Florida’s Gulf Coast, including ground-up construction projects proposed at Coastland Center mall and Founders Square in Collier County.  

At Coastland Center, Oar & Iron will be built on a newly created outparcel in the Macy’s parking lot on the mall’s southwest corner at 1800 Ninth St. N. The new seafood and steak restaurant is proposed for the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Fleischmann Boulevard.   

Behind the regional launch of Oar & Iron is RAVentures Hospitality, a franchise group that has more than 40 restaurants in New England. Oar & Iron replaces RAVentures’ initial plan to bring its 110 Grill concept here. “Oar & Iron is a Florida version of 110 Grill,” said Ryan Dion, chief operating officer of RAVentures Hospitality. “We initially decided to bring 110 down here and, after putting some more thought into it and visiting many different establishments in Florida, we realized that 110 Grill is more of a New England-based concept. It has darker millwork. It has more New England comfort food. We realized we need to make some changes, so we decided to rename it and rebrand it for Florida because we didn’t want to confuse people.”  

Oar & Iron will have lighter colors, a larger bar and a large patio but it also will have a lot of the features found at 110 Grill in New England, including an entire menu that can be made gluten-free.  

“We’ll be bringing some of the 110 Grill menu favorites and also extending the raw bar, of course, given the name, and we’ll have some additional steak and seafood options, which we’re very excited about,” Dion said. “We are excited to grow this brand.”  

The goal is to create a cool and comfortable atmosphere, he said, that offers something for everyone.  

“We are going to be upscale casual, is how I define it, with a primarily scratch kitchen. So, we will be more than your everyday casual,” Dion said. “We will be more than a Chili’s or an Applebee’s or a TGI Friday’s, but we’re not going to be white tablecloth. We’ll be as fine-dining as a Capital Grille or Ocean Prime. We want to fit that niche, similar to a 110 Grill in the middle, where you can come in in shorts and sandals from the beach and have a burger and a beer at the bar or you can come in in a business suit and have a $42 ribeye and a bottle of Duckhorn Decoy cabernet. Either way, you’ll fit into our ambiance.”  

The Founders Square location of Oar & Iron is targeted to open first in October or November, Dion said. The restaurant with a large patio will be on the western end of The Plaza at Founders Square, a retail strip that will be anchored by Sunshine Ace Hardware, under construction in the center of the development on the southeast corner of Immokalee Road and Collier Boulevard.   

The Coastland Center location will most likely open in early 2024. “There’s always a small possibility of getting it at the end of the year, but with how challenging construction is in Florida, I would say Q1 of next year would be the safe bet,” Dion said.  

Oar & Iron would be the mall’s seventh outparcel, six of which include restaurants and bars near the northwestern part of the Naples property. In reconfiguring the parking lot after the demolition of Sears in 2019, the mall ended up with a surplus of 379 parking spaces. With the addition of Oar & Iron in the Macy’s lot, the mall would lose about 61 parking spaces, said Greg Wilfong with Kimley-Horn & Associates, the engineer of record for the development project. “But since the shopping center on a whole has a surplus, we’re still well over the 4.5 (parking spaces) per 1,000 (square feet) ratio, which is what’s approved as part of the Coastland mall (planned development),” Wilfong said when he and his associates presented Oar & Iron’s preliminary design plans to the Naples Design Review Board on Jan. 25.  

Oar & Iron is proposed to have nearly 6,000 square feet of indoor space with a horseshoe bar and an adjacent lounge area that separates the main dining area from a more than 1,800-square-foot outdoor patio partially covered by a pergola, preliminary architectural plans show. The restaurant will seat a total of 257 people with 76 seats outdoors, 72 in the main dining area, 40 in a private function room, 36 in the lounge and 33 at the full bar, plans show.The private dining area will have a full glass wall that can be opened as an extension of the dining room or be closed for private functions. Some booths will have a direct view of the open kitchen through the expo window.  

“The adjacency between our bar and our outdoor patio is pretty essential to our design so we’ve added this Euro-Wall on the exterior of the building that really establishes that spatial continuity between the interior space and the exterior space,” said architect Sean Carey of Massachusetts-based Lagrasse Yanowitz & Feyl (LYF) Architects, the architect on record.  

Carey noted that the exterior dining space will include a fire pit on a patio covered with a louvered pergola system. “The whole idea behind this design is something very light, clean, modern, airy, sophisticated and fun, as well,” he said.  

The project’s preliminary design review last month was approved 4-1 with 14 staff conditions and DRB member David Driapsa dissenting. DRB Chair Steve Hruby proposed eliminating additional parking spaces on the corner to add more landscaping. Wilfong said they tried to negotiate with Macy’s to do that but they were not successful.  

“From a city standpoint, from a community and neighborhood standpoint, that’s a significant corner,” Hruby said. “When you come back, I’d like to see you deal with that whole corner in a much more community sensitive way. I don’t think it’s community sensitive right now.”  

Once the DRB gives the modified project a second look and its final design approval, the restaurant’s site plan and outdoor dining request still must be approved by City Council.  

In addition to the two Collier County locations, Oar & Iron — not to be confused with the unrelated Oak & Stone restaurant concept in Florida — also is planned near Topgolf in Fort Myers and in Babcock Ranch.  

The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at Tim.Aten@NaplesPress.com.