On August 21, Lee County and town officials broke ground on the new Fort Myers Beach Pier. The ceremony wasn't held at the pier. It was held at Crescent Beach Family Park, in front of more than 100 people, because the ground around the pier was already fenced off for construction. Crescent Beach had reopened only three weeks earlier, on July 29, after a Hurricane Ian restoration.
The choice of venue made sense, and it also points to where this season is headed. Through spring 2027, Crescent Beach Family Park is the one county beach park on the north end of Estero Island that is fully open. The county's own guidance points people toward it by trolley.
Fences on Both Sides
The two county sites that usually anchor the north end are both closed for construction this season.
Lynn Hall Memorial Park, at the edge of Times Square, has been under construction since April. Its parking lot has been closed since then. Now that pier work has started, the beach access from Times Square and Lynn Hall is also blocked around the pier area.
At the island's northern tip, Bowditch Point Park closed its parking lot and amenities on September 8, 2026, for its own Ian repairs. The county says pedestrians can still reach the beach along the south side of the property, near Pink Shell Resort. The LeeTran stop there stays in service.
A few other familiar north-end spots are also off the list. Lee County lists Matanzas Pass Preserve as closed until further notice. The Friends of Matanzas Pass Preserve cite boardwalk damage. The county's page for Estero Island Beach Accesses #37 through #43 also shows those walk-on accesses as closed until further notice.
| North-end site | Status this season | Expected back |
|---|---|---|
| Lynn Hall Memorial Park lot | Closed since April; Times Square beach access blocked near the pier | Spring 2027 per county release; local reporting ties it to the pier finishing |
| Bowditch Point Park lot and amenities | Closed since Sept. 8, 2026; walk-in path near Pink Shell Resort open | Most county projects are estimated at about 11 months |
| Matanzas Pass Preserve | Closed until further notice | No date posted |
| Crescent Beach Family Park | Open since July 29, 2026, dawn to dusk | Already open |
The county release says most of the beach-park projects that started September 8 are expected to take about 11 months. It also says the beaches themselves stay open throughout.
What the $1.3 Million Bought at Crescent Beach
Crescent Beach isn't stuck with a temporary role. The park came back with new amenities in place. According to the Beach Observer's reopening coverage, Lee County's $1.3 million restoration added:
- shade structures
- ADA beach access, including a Mobi-mat route
- bike racks
- a landscaped path and picnic area
- four beach access points
- showers and modular restrooms
- native trees, plantings and a grassy area
Lee County's park page describes it as a 2.25-acre beachfront park at the foot of the Matanzas Bridge, along a 400-foot stretch of beach. It also lists pavilions and family-style restrooms, and it's open dawn to dusk.
Four access points on 400 feet of sand is a lot of ways in for a short beach. With the Lynn Hall and Times Square entrances blocked just down the road, that matters this season. The sources don't give a parking count or rate for Crescent Beach. The county's planning guidance gives a clue about why. It doesn't send drivers to the park. It sends them to a trolley.
The Route the County Is Actually Pointing To
Lee County's post-Labor Day guidance says LeeTran is the best option for reaching the north end of Fort Myers Beach, and anywhere south to Lovers Key. The setup works like this:
- Park for free at the Beach Park & Ride, 11101 Summerlin Square Drive. The lot has more than 125 spaces.
- Take Beach Trolley Route 490. It runs about every 30 minutes and serves Crescent Beach Family Park directly.
- Pay 75 cents each way, half the regular LeeTran fare, or $2 for an all-day pass.
- On the island, Route 410 runs from Bowditch Point to Lovers Key. You can pay through the Lee Fare App or with cash on board.
Look at the trolley's two endpoints. Route 490 drops riders at the one north-end county park that's fully open. Route 410 still starts at Bowditch Point, where the parking lot is closed but the bus stop isn't. Schedules and fares are on RideLeeTran.com.
Driving is still possible, at a price. The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce says north-end private lots are mostly along Old San Carlos Boulevard and the first stretch of Estero Boulevard. As of early September 2026, those lots charged $10 to $20 a day and town lots charged $5 an hour. At those rates, the $2 all-day trolley pass costs less than two hours in a town lot.
The pier area isn't completely off-limits on foot. In late August, the county said people could still walk the beach near the pier from other access points, swim and lie out near Lynn Hall Memorial Park. A county spokesman added that how much beach stays open "will vary, depending on what construction activities will be taking place and when." Boaters and personal watercraft operators have also been asked to stay a safe distance from the work, which is happening both on the beach and in the water.
The Season Calendar Hasn't Moved
The construction fencing changes how people get to the beach. It doesn't appear to have changed the island's schedule. Local listings on What's Up FMB show the usual fall and holiday lineup, and none of our sources say anything was moved because of the pier work. The listings don't show publish dates, so check with each organizer before you go.
- October 10: Sand and Suds Beerfest at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus
- October 31: Halloween Monster Mash Pub Crawl, 5 to 9 p.m.
- November 7: Illuminations Parade
- November 19 to 23: the 36th American Sand Sculpting Championship, listed at DiamondHead Beach Resort
- December 5: Fort Myers Beach Christmas Boat Parade, departing at 6 p.m. The Chamber's parade page still carries 2025 details and says 2026 updates are coming.
- December 11 and 12: Christmas Tree Festival and Holiday Raffle
- December 19: Merry Misfits Bike and Golf Cart Parade
- December 31: New Year's Eve fireworks over the Gulf and around Times Square
Times Square, where the New Year's Eve fireworks happen, is also the part of the north end that lost its beach access this year. The parking pressure that big crowd nights usually put on Lynn Hall will have to go somewhere else. The Park & Ride and the trolley are what the county has offered for that.
Two Dates for Lynn Hall, One for the Pier
The fenced-off area will reopen in stages, and the sources don't fully agree on when the first stage arrives.
Lee County's September release puts Lynn Hall Memorial Park's completion in late April or early May 2027. The upgrades include ADA-accessible boardwalks, picnic shelters, lighting, landscaping, an elevated restroom and a parking lot with 146 spaces, 10 of them for motorcycles. The Beach Observer's August coverage, citing county officials, says the lot isn't expected to reopen until pier work is finished. That coverage also says the new lot will have 30 percent more spaces than before. So the lot could be back by spring, or it could come back with the pier. Plan for either.
The county's pier project page lists the pier as in progress, with completion expected in late summer 2027, weather permitting. The new pier will be about 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide. That's more than 70 percent longer and 50 percent wider than the pier Hurricane Ian destroyed in September 2022. It will have reinforced concrete piles, a concrete deck, aluminum railings, an entry gate and three shade structures. The added length requested by Fort Myers Beach officials is part of why construction will take longer.
The full project is estimated at $14,435,908, according to the county. Local reporting rounds that to $14.4 million. FEMA Public Assistance covers part of the cost, including a $5.5 million award. Tourist Development Tax dollars and RESTORE Act grants pay for the rest, including the extra cost of building it bigger. The construction contract, $11.7 million, went to RJ Gorman Contracting LLC in April. At the groundbreaking, Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce President Jacki Liszak said she's asked every day how long the pier will take. "Now we have an answer," she said.
Private plans at Times Square are on a similar schedule, but none of them are confirmed yet. Terry Persaud owns the property where the PierSide Grill and Famous Blowfish Bar stood. He told the Beach Observer in late August that he hopes to have his Times Square resort finished by September 2027. He also hopes to reopen the restaurant as the "new Pierside," with small shops, and to keep the remaining Pierside walls on the lot as a memento.
Until then, the open part of the north end is Crescent Beach Family Park, from dawn to dusk. Trolley Route 490 runs there about every 30 minutes.
If you own on the north end, or you're weighing a condo within walking distance of Times Square, how close a place is to Crescent Beach, the trolley and the future pier entrance can matter more this year than the usual listing details. I'm glad to walk through which buildings sit closest to what's open now and what reopens in 2027. William Ross is happy to talk it through whenever you're ready. Let's Connect.
