Legacy Harbour Is Back on Downtown Fort Myers' West End, and Boat Show Week Is Its First Big Test

"This marina has long served as a homeport for boaters traveling Florida's west coast," AIRN Management CEO Rick Budd told The News-Press this month. The key word there is traveling. Legacy Harbour Marina at 2044 West First St. has its docks back after a $15 million rebuild. For those of us who live near downtown, the bigger news is who steps off those boats and where they go for dinner.

Hurricane Ian damaged the 13-acre property so badly that the marina, the harbormaster building and the amenities all had to be rebuilt from scratch. Construction started in early 2025. The first boaters were back on the docks almost four years to the day after the storm. The marina's own site says it "officially reopened in September 2026." The News-Press reports the formal reopening is set for Friday, Oct. 23.

These 131 Slips Are Old Capacity Coming Back

The number getting attention is 131 wet slips. AIRN Management rebuilt the marina with Bellingham Marine, adding modern utilities and marine infrastructure designed to stand up to the waterfront. The marina lists potable water, in-slip pump-out, fire suppression, fiberglass dock boxes, and both single- and three-phase power among its amenities.

The News-Press makes the point that matters most here: Legacy Harbour "adds supply back rather than creating entirely new supply." That distinction carries weight in a region where new marina capacity keeps getting harder to build. The same report says finding a place to keep a boat in Southwest Florida has become about as hard as buying one. So these 131 slips put the Caloosahatchee back where it was before the storm. They don't add new room.

The slips also fit a certain kind of boat. They take vessels from 40 to 140 feet. That's cruising and yacht territory, not trailer-boat territory. The marina is at Marker 49 on the Okeechobee Waterway. Short-term, seasonal and annual reservations go through the marina's Dockwa booking page, which asks for your boat's dimensions and dates before it shows a price. You can also contact Marina Director Eric Ravenschlag.

Why a Big-Boat Marina Matters If You've Never Owned a Boat

A marina built for 40-foot-plus boats on the Okeechobee Waterway hosts people who arrived by water. In the News-Press words, the reopening adds something else back to the downtown waterfront: "Customers." Mariners at Legacy Harbour can walk to the River District's restaurants, shops and entertainment, so the marina's economic reach extends well past its docks.

For anyone who eats, shops or catches a show downtown, that's the real story. A cruising crew docked for a few nights might eat out on First Street every night, walk to the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, or buy tickets at the Historic Arcade Theatre. That spending happens on the west end of the district. The fixed attractions, from the art center to the Caloosa Sound Amphitheater, never moved. The new part is visitors who show up by boat and are within walking distance of all of it.

The West End Is Rebuilding in Order

Nobody is reopening Legacy Harbour all at once. The site is coming back in stages, and each stage gives the next one a reason to open.

1. The docks, fall 2026. Boaters returned in late September, with the formal reopening set for Oct. 23.
2. Nellie's Boatyard, just after New Year's. Local restaurateur Leonard Lemmer, who owns Nervous Nellie's on Fort Myers Beach, is moving into the former Joe's Crab Shack space. WINK News puts that building at 2024 West First St. Longtime locals still call it the old Chart House. The building is getting a full interior renovation and new landscaping. Plans call for 82 floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Caloosahatchee and a menu built on aged steaks and fresh seafood. An earlier WINK News report pointed to late 2026. The October update moved that to January.
3. A walkable mixed-use waterfront, someday. The News-Press describes an "overall distant goal" of a full waterfront destination combining boating, hospitality, retail and public access. No date has been announced, and that's the right way to think about it for now.

Lemmer's plans say a lot about the kind of west end he expects. Half the menu will come from Nervous Nellie's and half will be new. He described the feel as somewhere between Chart House and Joe's Crab Shack. "We signed a 25-year lease so it's going to be there long after I'm gone," he told The News-Press, adding that he runs the business with his family. "It won't be fine dining. It'll be relaxed dining." A 25-year lease next to a freshly rebuilt big-boat marina is a bet that the boaters from step one will still be walking over decades from now.

Boat Show Week Is the First Full Test

The 54th Fort Myers Boat Show runs Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 12–15. That's three weeks after the formal marina reopening and seven weeks before Nellie's is due. Organizers call it the largest display of boats and marine products on Florida's Gulf Coast. Exhibits spread across the downtown waterfront, Centennial Park and the Caloosa Sound Convention Center. The News-Press noted that Legacy made it back just in time for the neighborhood's biggest boating weekend of the year.

Here's the plan for anyone heading downtown that week:

• Hours: Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the City of Fort Myers event listing.
• Tickets: Exhibitor show guides list adult admission at $20, with children 15 and under free alongside a paying adult. You can buy tickets online ahead of time to skip the line at the gate.
• Parking: The same guides list free parking at City of Palms Park, 2201 Edison Ave., with free shuttles to the show. They also list the Edison Parking Garage, the Main Street Parking Garage and the Florida Repertory Theatre lot on Bay Street as paid options.
• Entrances: The main entrance is at Bay and Heitman streets next to the post office. The east entrance is at Lee Street and Edwards Drive.

You'll see some Bonita Springs names in the exhibit lineup. Fish Tale Boats, a family-owned dealer with locations in Fort Myers, Naples and at Bonita Bay Marina, plans to be at the show. It was just named the world's No. 1 Robalo dealer for the eighth year in a row. Watch the west end that weekend. Fill the slips with show traffic and the River District gets its first busy weekend of foot traffic from the water since Ian.

The Rest of the Fall on the River Side of Downtown

Before the boat show, the waterfront calendar is already busy. Here's what's coming up within walking distance of the marina:

Full lineups are on the Caloosa Sound Amphitheater events page and the City of Fort Myers calendar. The Alliance for the Arts Haunted House also runs Oct. 22–31 at 10091 McGregor Blvd., a short drive south.

If you're driving in from North Fort Myers for an evening show, plan around the bridges. FDOT's SWFL Roads RoadWatch lists intermittent nighttime lane closures on the Edison Bridge for bridge-joint work and on the U.S. 41 bridge over the Caloosahatchee for pile-jacket work, both through Winter 2026.

I've watched the Caloosahatchee waterfront through good years and hard ones, and nothing sells a nearby home like a busy downtown you can walk to. If you own near the River District and want to know how Legacy Harbour, Nellie's Boatyard and a full slip count are showing up in what buyers will pay this season, talk to Kevin Shelly Realty. Start with your instant home valuation, and we'll take it from there.