Lani Kai's Sixth-Floor Restaurant on Fort Myers Beach Reopens as the Island View Sports Bar

The Island View, the restaurant on the sixth floor of the Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach, has reopened after a three-month renovation under a new identity: the Island View Sports Bar. The change was reported September 8, 2026, by Fort Myers Beach Talk, the local paper that covers the island. The space is reached by a glass elevator and still carries the same panoramic view over the Gulf that the restaurant has been known for, now paired with 32 sixty-five-inch televisions and one 100-inch center screen so every major sports package has somewhere to play.

I am Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, and I sell across nine Southwest Florida markets including Fort Myers Beach.

According to Fort Myers Beach Talk, Michael Conidaris of Conidaris Builders oversaw the construction, with Alli Conidaris serving as interior designer. The renovation brought new flooring, new booths and an expanded bar counter, along with a frozen mug system that keeps draft beer at 27 degrees, a first for the venue. Marketing director Kasey Conidaris told the paper, "We have the best views around." Alli Conidaris added, "Not many sports bars can say they have a view like this."

The renovation also added a new arcade game room next to the sports bar, stocked with Marvel vs. Capcom, multicade cabinets running Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man and Mappy, an Aliens cabinet, Guitar Hero and foosball. Fort Myers Beach Talk reported the game room honors the resort's late founder, Bob Conidaris, who opened the Lani Kai in 1978 and was known for his own love of games.

The kitchen serves wings in five styles, including hot, barbecue, teriyaki, garlic parmesan and jerk, alongside burgers, fish and chips, quesadillas, tacos, short ribs, wood-fired pizzas and sandwiches such as a Philly cheesesteak, a corned beef reuben and a grouper sandwich. Fort Myers Beach Talk reported the Island View Sports Bar is open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight. The space also carries autographed athlete jerseys on the walls and live beach camera broadcasts on the screens.

The Lani Kai has stood at the same spot on Estero Boulevard since 1978, and it survived Hurricane Ian in 2022 along with extensive repairs carried out afterward, also by Conidaris Builders. A sixth-floor restaurant choosing to invest in a full renovation, rather than a patch repair, is one more piece of evidence that the businesses on the island are building for the years ahead rather than simply getting back to where they were before the storm. It sits alongside the other rebuilding work already under way nearer the north end of the island, including the ongoing Fort Myers Beach pier reconstruction at Lynn Hall Memorial Park.

None of that is a single milestone that finishes the island's recovery. It is one more established business choosing to reinvest on Fort Myers Beach rather than elsewhere, which is a different kind of signal than a headline about any one project.

Nobody can honestly put a number on what one restaurant renovation does to nearby property values, and be skeptical of anyone who tells you otherwise. What is fair to say is narrower: an established, decades-old business on the island choosing to reinvest in a full renovation rather than a minimal repair is one more sign that private capital sees Fort Myers Beach as worth building for, not just rebuilding to where it was. That is a different question from what any specific home or condo nearby is worth, and it should be treated as one more data point rather than a reason to rush a decision.

A restaurant renovation is a sign of confidence in a stretch of the island, not a substitute for the numbers that actually decide what a property costs to buy and keep: what has actually sold nearby, what an association holds in reserves if there is one, what flood insurance runs once elevation is confirmed, and what an inspection turns up on the specific address. The home buying process walks through where each of those gets checked, in order, before you are under contract.

If you are weighing a property near this stretch of Fort Myers Beach, including Fort Myers Beach waterfront homes or homes with boat access, or anywhere else across the nine markets I cover, get in touch or call (239) 300-1427 for a straight read on that address rather than the island in general.