"What I like about the downtown location is that we have kind of a dive feel, which I don't think you get a lot of that in Naples," Todd Brooks told Gulfshore Business about the original location. The dive feel will be gone soon. The original Brooks Burgers at 330 Ninth St. S. has to be out by Nov. 30. The building is under contract for sale, and the plan is to tear it down and redevelop the site.
The restaurant isn't leaving downtown. Brooks has signed a lease about half a mile away at 1200 Central Ave. and plans to reopen there as Brooks Burgers & Bar. The burgers and the name will carry over. The room won't. Read Brooks's own plans for the new address and they describe a different kind of restaurant, one where most seats are outside, families are part of the target crowd, and the bar menu is meant for watching the game.
What the Ninth Street Sale Ends
The building is a one-story, multi-tenant property along U.S. 41, nearly 60 years old. Brooks has been there for more than 15 years. The restaurant got its character before it got its current name. In 2010, Brooks moved from St. Louis and bought a Lindburgers chain restaurant on the site. He renamed it Lindburgers & Bottles and kept the aviation theme. Later he rebranded it Brooks Gourmet Burgers & Dogs, though most people just call it Brooks Burgers. The original also has a separate lounge area.
Brooks had planned to buy the building, but its value rose faster than he expected. "It ended up selling for more than $5 million," he said. Gulfshore Business reported that the listing price was more than double what he had planned to pay, and that the highly visible property sold quickly. The same article calls the building "under contract" and quotes Brooks saying it has sold. The published reporting doesn't name a buyer or describe what will be built.
The timing is tight. Brooks put it plainly:
"Our lease is up and downtown is sold. We, basically, have 60 days to move. So, I'm pretty jammed up and between a rock and a hard place. So, downtown's closing. We and the employees are sad because it became home to everybody."
He isn't blaming anyone for the sale. "I get it. It's an old building. Nobody's going to buy that and not knock it down, but it's one more part of Naples that's disappearing," he said. A one-story building on U.S. 41 reached a price above $5 million, more than double what its longtime tenant had planned to pay for it, and the buyer is planning to demolish it.
Half a Mile to a Block That Went Quiet in June
1200 Central Ave. is part of Central Square, the block that held four venues: The District, The Mini Bar, The Alley and Staff Only. All four closed in June 2026. The Naples Daily News reported the closure on June 17, 2026. Neither outlet gave a reason.
Brooks is leasing The Alley and Mini Bar spaces. He isn't taking the neighboring District and Staff Only spaces. Christopher Shucart owns the whole block, which runs between Goodlette-Frank Road, Central Avenue, 12th Street South and First Avenue South. After the closures, he wasn't sure whether one tenant would take everything or whether the pieces would be leased separately.
"I wanted to find the right person, and my thought was whoever is the right person and the right concept will then dictate whether it's the whole space or whether it gets divided back up," Shucart said. He added that Brooks "may end up taking District, as well," and called this lease "kind of the bite-sized piece that was needed to get it in motion."
So the Brooks move covers two things. A longtime tenant is losing its building on Ninth Street South, and a block on Central Avenue that has been dark since June is getting its first new tenant. No tenant has been reported for the District and Staff Only spaces.
A Different Restaurant at the New Address
Most of the change comes from the layout. About 70% of the seating at 1200 Central Ave. is outdoors, on a turf area. Ninth Street had a dive bar's interior and a separate lounge. Central Avenue will be mostly patio, and Brooks's plans follow from that.
Here is what he has said he'll bring over and what he'll change:
- Airplane decor, indoors. "Inside the Alley, we're going to make the inside part kind of look like downtown with our airplane stuff. Kind of casual," he said.
- Burgers as the core. "We'll still stay true to our core being burgers," he said. "Obviously, that's what's made us successful." Gulfshore Business singled out Sandra's Hottie as one of the house specialties.
- New on the menu. A bar menu, some pizzas and bar appetizers, "so people can sit around and watch the game."
- A different crowd. "We'll also be a little more family friendly. I think we'll have a lot more kids and families come in there. It's not going to be bar-driven. We're not going to be like a nightclub with live music every night."
- The outdoor area as is, for now. "The outside part is not going to change a whole lot right away because we don't have time to plan it with the city." That includes the picnic tables. Brooks would like to get rid of them because he doesn't find them comfortable, but opening quickly comes first.
The biggest planned change comes after opening. Brooks wants city approval to build a chickee, a palm-thatched roof with cooling fans, over the turf area. Since so much of the seating is outside, he wants more protection from heat and rain. "I think people like that feel of sitting under a tiki hut having a drink," he said. He plans to seek that approval in early 2027, so this first season at the new address will open without it.
The Calendar From Here
All of the dates below are targets Brooks has described. None has been confirmed as complete.
- Nov. 30. The deadline for Brooks to be out of 330 Ninth St. S. The reporting doesn't give a last day of service at the original.
- Last week of November or first week of December. The target opening window for Brooks Burgers & Bar at 1200 Central Ave. "I need to hit season, so we're going to try to get it open by Dec. 1, in that general area," Brooks said. "I'm hoping to have less than two weeks of downtime."
- Early 2027. Brooks plans to seek city approval for the chickee over the outdoor seating.
- Next year, in East Naples. Brooks Bar & Grill at Hibiscus Golf Club, off Rattlesnake Hammock Road, is expected to close once work starts on converting the public course into The Lantern, a private club.
If the move runs late, you can still get Brooks burgers elsewhere during the gap. Brooks runs a car-themed Brooks Burgers near Paragon Theaters in The Pavilion shopping center in North Naples. He sold his Logan Landings restaurant but still licenses his name and burgers to Brooks Grill & Tavern. The full Gulfshore Business report includes photos of the original restaurant and the former Alley space.
If you want one more meal in the nearly 60-year-old room on U.S. 41, it has to be before the Nov. 30 move-out deadline, and possibly earlier. Starting around Dec. 1, the Brooks Burgers half a mile away will be a mostly outdoor restaurant with pizza on the menu, airplanes inside, and a roof over the patio still waiting on 2027.
Downtown changes like this one, where an old building's sale price outgrows the business inside it, are the details Eileen Komanecky follows closely. If you're curious what the Ninth Street and Central Avenue corridor looks like this season, or how changes on a block like Central Square can matter to the condos and homes nearby, Eileen is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
