Estero's New River Park Meets Its First Eagle Season. Here's How a Visit Works This Fall.

What does a village's first riverfront park look like during the months when its best-known residents limit where visitors can go? Estero RiverPark is open to the public in a weekends-only soft opening. A pair of bald eagles has nested on the property since 2022, and activity near their nest is limited every year from Oct. 1 through May 15. The park was planned around those eagles from the start. For the next seven months, the RiverPark you can visit is the north-bank entry and the paths beyond the bridge, plus a second set of trails still under construction that is meant to open more of the property during nesting season.

The Village Bought a River Instead of a Development

The ground under RiverPark was close to becoming something else. When the Village of Estero bought the property in January 2019 for $24.5 million, approved plans called for 530 residential units and roughly 300,000 square feet of commercial space, as Estero Life Magazine reported in July. The same article puts the purchase price at about three times the village's annual revenue at the time. Council then amended the Comprehensive Plan and rezoned the land south of the river as open space and natural preserve.

The property sits at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Corkscrew Road. It runs north toward County Road and east to the Seminole Gulf Railway corridor. The Village lists the park address as 20911 Highlands Avenue.

That history explains why the first phase is so modest. Phase 1 covers less than 6 of the roughly 64 acres the Village owns there, according to EsteroToday's RiverPark page. The paths are dirt and mulch rather than pavement, a choice the Village made to hold down costs and keep the setting natural. The eagle nest is in the southwestern part of the property, and a bald eagle management plan is in place.

What Opened, and How You Get In

Phase 1 is finished. It includes an entrance drive, an 85-space parking lot, Old Florida-style restrooms on the north side near the lot, and bike racks. Its centerpiece is a new 10-foot-wide pedestrian bridge that replaced the old swing bridge over the Estero River. On the south bank it connects to an 8-foot, ADA-accessible, porous multi-use path. Plans call for decorative fencing along the U.S. 41 and Corkscrew Road edges, with chain-link on the railroad side.

You arrive from the north and walk south across the river. As of the September 26 update, a visit works like this:

1. Go on a weekend. The soft opening runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
2. Turn east onto County Road just north of Estero River Outfitters, where the fire station is. A small sign marks the turn.
3. Follow County Road to the end and turn right into the new lot. A few spaces are shaded.
4. Walk across the pedestrian bridge to enter the park.

The Estero Forever Foundation runs activities and operations at the park during the soft opening. Those hours are a soft-opening schedule, so check with the Village of Estero before a Thursday-afternoon plan turns into a locked gate.

Phase 2 Is the Eagle-Season Route

Phase 2 is built to address the gap the nest creates each fall. It adds paths on the south side of the river, a fence around the property south of the river, and a path along the north side of Corkscrew Road. Per EsteroToday, those paths "will allow people to walk through the area during the eagle's nesting season."

The money is approved. At its September 9 meeting, the Estero Village Council approved a $244,075 contract with Honc Industries to build the Phase 2 paths, with a $24,000 contingency, according to the Village's meeting summary. Lee County awarded a $163,100 Tourist Development Council grant for the trails south of the river. The contract agenda item calls for work to start within three weeks of the notice to proceed and finish within 11 weeks of it. The Village's most recent public estimate is that the improvements are expected "soon."

In practice, this year's nesting season is likely to begin with the Phase 1 footprint and may end with a larger network. Weekend walkers this fall are watching a park that will look different by spring.

A separate project is moving on the other side of the water, and it isn't part of the park. On Aug. 10 the Village issued a public-private partnership solicitation for a developer to plan, finance, build and operate a 32-acre Village-owned site north of the Estero River. The Village describes it as a walkable riverfront district with homes and retail, linked to the upcoming Bonita Estero Rail Trail.

Happehatchee Is Already Part of the Park

RiverPark is new, but it includes one of Estero's older conservation landmarks. The Village says the historic Happehatchee Center was donated to it in December 2019 and is now part of the RiverPark. Environmental advocate Ellen Peterson founded the site. It became an eco-spiritual retreat and nature education center, and Peterson spent decades working to protect rivers and wildlife habitat across Southwest Florida. Parts of the property hold mature trees, wetlands and gopher tortoise habitat.

The same foundation runs both places. The Estero Forever Foundation says it began managing Happehatchee for the Village on Nov. 26, 2024, and it keeps a volunteer sign-up on its Estero River Park page. Anyone who wants more involvement than a weekend walk should start there.

Getting Onto the River Itself

RiverPark gives you the river from a bridge and a trail. To get out on the water, you'll head to a neighbor. The Estero River is a brackish tidal waterway that runs about 3 miles to Estero Bay, according to Florida State Parks.

The table shows how the pieces fit. Koreshan State Park has the launch but no boats to rent. Estero River Outfitters has the boats and sits on the water at the same corner you pass on the way to the RiverPark lot. Koreshan also has its own short walk by the water. Its River Trail connects to the Blue Trail, and the loop from the settlement out and back is 0.64 miles. Hosts planning for overnight guests should know the state lists Koreshan's campground as temporarily closed, effective Oct. 31, 2025.

The Friends of Koreshan State Park run guided historic tours at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31. A program on the history of Koreshan music follows on Nov. 13. Details are on the Friends of Koreshan events page.

Nov. 7 Brings a Native-Plant Saturday to the Park

The Village has scheduled a RiverPark event that fits the park's native-habitat purpose. On Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the park hosts a native-plant giveaway and sale. People who preregister can arrive at 9:30 a.m. to pick up a free plant while supplies last. At 10:30 a.m., Sara Burke leads a walk-and-talk on 20 easy-to-grow wildflowers. The Coccoloba Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society will run a plant sale, and the Naples chapter and the Florida Wildflower Foundation are also listed as partners.

The event lands about five weeks into eagle season, on one of the soft opening's regular weekend days. Take a plant home and then cross the bridge. You'll be walking the small first piece of a 64-acre property that will keep growing over the coming months, with a nest in the southwest corner.

If you're curious how places like RiverPark and the 32-acre riverfront site north of the river affect daily life on this stretch of U.S. 41 and Corkscrew Road, the team at Sunrizon Realty follows these Village projects closely and is happy to talk them through with you. Contact Us any time you'd like that conversation.