By Dawn Miller
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October 1, 2026
The Pier Is Coming Back: A Fort Myers Beach Icon Looks Toward the Future There are certain places that become so much a part of a community that it's difficult to imagine the landscape without them. For Fort Myers Beach, the pier was one of those places. For generations, it wasn't simply somewhere to fish or take a walk. It was a meeting place, a landmark and, for many visitors, one of the first places they went after arriving on the island. Families walked the pier after dinner. Kids watched fishermen pull their catch from the Gulf. Visitors leaned over the railing hoping to spot a dolphin below. Vacation photos were taken there year after year, and when evening arrived, people made their way toward the end of the pier to watch the sun disappear over the Gulf. Somewhere along the way, those ordinary moments became traditions. Then came September 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers Beach and destroyed much of the beloved pier. In a matter of hours, one of the island's most recognizable landmarks was gone. Four years later, Fort Myers Beach has made tremendous progress, but even as businesses have reopened, buildings have risen and visitors have returned, the view from Times Square has continued to feel a little incomplete without the pier stretching into the Gulf. Now, that's finally beginning to change. A Bigger Pier for the Next Chapter After years of planning, design and permitting, construction of the replacement Fort Myers Beach Pier is underway. And rather than simply recreating what existed before Ian, the new pier is being built for the next chapter of Fort Myers Beach. Lee County's current plans call for the new pier to extend approximately 1,000 feet into the Gulf and measure 12 feet wide , making it substantially larger than the previous structure. The finalized design also includes shade structures along the pier, giving visitors places to stop, take in the view and enjoy the Gulf. Lee County currently anticipates completion in Summer 2027, weather permitting. The journey to this point has understandably taken time. The original Fort Myers Beach Pier dated back to 1930 and underwent a major renovation in 1990. Following Ian, rebuilding involved much more than replacing pilings and decking. Decisions had to be made about the size and design of the new structure, funding, permitting and how to create a modern pier that would still feel like it belonged on Fort Myers Beach. From Hurricane Ian to Summer 2027 A major step came in June 2024, when the Lee Board of County Commissioners directed staff to pursue a much larger replacement. Instead of rebuilding the previous approximately 585-foot-long, 8-foot-wide pier, plans moved forward for a 1,000-foot-long, 12-foot-wide structure . In February 2025, Lee County announced another encouraging development when the anticipated schedule was accelerated. What had once looked like a project stretching into 2028 was now targeting completion in 2027. Design and permitting continued through 2025 and 2026, bringing us to where we are today: the design is complete, construction is underway and the current target is Summer 2027. That's a timeline worth remembering: Ian in 2022. A larger vision approved in 2024. An accelerated timeline announced in 2025. Construction underway in 2026. And, if everything stays on schedule, a new Fort Myers Beach Pier in 2027. After four years of rebuilding, that's more than another construction project. It's a milestone. More Than a Fishing Pier The dates, dimensions and construction plans tell us what is being built, but they don't really explain what Fort Myers Beach is getting back. Ask people what they remember about the old pier and you'll hear completely different stories. Someone remembers fishing there with a parent or grandparent. Someone else remembers walking out on it during their first vacation to Fort Myers Beach. There were first dates, morning walks, family pictures, fishing stories and probably more than a few marriage proposals. Visitors who returned to the island year after year often had their own pier tradition. Maybe it was an early morning walk with coffee. Maybe it was checking to see what the fishermen were catching. Maybe it was taking the same family photo every year. Or maybe it was simply heading toward the end of the pier as the sun began getting lower in the sky. That's what happens with landmarks. Eventually, they become much more than the structure itself. They become part of our memories. The Best Seat in the House Perhaps no memory is more closely connected to the Fort Myers Beach Pier than sunset. Fort Myers Beach certainly hasn't stopped having spectacular sunsets since Ian. We've watched them from restaurant patios and balconies, from boats and beach chairs, from Times Square and standing barefoot at the water's edge. Every evening, people still stop what they're doing for a few minutes and look west. But we've been missing one of the best seats in the house. There was something special about walking farther and farther out over the Gulf until the island began to disappear behind you. By the time you reached the end of the pier, there was water in almost every direction. You found a place along the railing and waited. Some evenings the sky exploded in orange, pink and purple. Other nights the sun quietly slipped below the horizon. Either way, people stopped, watched and shared those few minutes together. Soon, we'll be able to do that again. A Familiar Landmark on a Changing Island When the new pier opens, it will return to its familiar location beside Times Square, near Lynn Hall Memorial Park and Crescent Beach Family Park. The location may be familiar, but the Fort Myers Beach surrounding it continues to evolve. Businesses have rebuilt. New businesses have opened. Resorts have returned. New projects are taking shape. Public spaces are being restored. There is still plenty of work ahead, but piece by piece, Fort Myers Beach continues moving forward. The new pier will become one of the most visible pieces of that progress. Not because we're trying to recreate exactly what existed before September 28, 2022. We can't—and that's not really what rebuilding is about. It's about taking the things that mattered, remembering what made them special and carrying them forward. The new pier will be different. It will be longer. It will be wider. A new generation of visitors will experience it without ever having walked the old one. And they'll begin creating their own memories there. We'll Meet You at the Pier There's still construction ahead, and anyone who has lived through the rebuilding of Fort Myers Beach knows that timelines can change. But after years of talking about when the pier might return, we can finally watch it happening. Over the coming months, we'll see the structure stretch farther into the Gulf. We'll watch construction milestones and share progress photos. Visitors will ask when it will open, and locals will probably check on its progress every time they pass Times Square. Then, if everything stays on schedule, sometime in Summer 2027 someone will walk onto the completed Fort Myers Beach Pier for the first time. It won't take long before someone catches a fish. Someone will take a family photo. A child will lean over the railing looking for dolphins. Someone visiting Fort Myers Beach for the first time will walk all the way to the end simply because that's what you do when you're here. And eventually, the sky will begin turning orange. People will find a place along the railing. Conversations will pause. Phones will come out. Everyone will look west. A new generation of Fort Myers Beach memories will begin. We lost the pier, but we never lost the sunset. Soon, we'll have both again. Come see What's Up on FMB.
