Edison Tavern at Fort Myers Country Club: What's New After Reopening

Two familiar Fort Myers addresses reopened within three days of each other this September. Both came back in buildings their operators already knew, and neither came back as the same kind of place. Bruno's of Brooklyn opened an Italian eatery and market on Sept. 18 in the Second Street room where the family started out in 2014. Edison Tavern quietly reopened on Sept. 20 at the city-owned Fort Myers Country Club on McGregor Boulevard after two years of renovation.

The detail that ties them together is how each operator talks about the room. One describes a neighborhood tavern. The other talks about pasta for lunch and a meal to take home. Both spaces used to be set up for sitting down to a planned dinner, and both have been rebuilt for people who stop in more often and stay a shorter time.

A clubhouse restaurant that took a year longer than the lease said

The restaurant at Fort Myers Country Club has a longer story behind it than most reopenings. The course itself was designed by Donald J. Ross, opened for play in December 1917, and was bought by the City of Fort Myers in 1927 for $165,000. The restaurant building is much newer. It opened in 2008, and by 2023 a deteriorating roof and an outdated building had the city asking for renovation proposals.

Here's how it went from there:

1. 2023. The city put the restaurant lease out for proposals.
2. June 17, 2024. City Council passed Resolution 2024-75, which authorized a $1.92 million budget increase for Edison Restaurant repairs. The same month, the council agenda carried a lease with Three Warriors Management LLC, doing business as Edison Tavern.
3. June 2025. This was the reopening deadline in the 2024 agreement.
4. June 3, 2026. The News-Press reported the building still gutted, a year past that deadline, with management aiming for mid-July.
5. Sept. 20, 2026. The doors reopened without a big announcement.

General manager and operator Kevin King told WINK News that repeated hurricanes and storms had damaged the building and caused a structural problem. "It wasn't a little job. It was a big job," he said, adding that the goal was a building that would last "the next 20 to 30 years." By his account, most of the two years went to the structure, and interior work took only the final 71 days. City Council member Lin Bochette told the station the city finished its share on schedule, which under the original renovation contract meant January 2025.

The published cost figures don't line up neatly, so each one is given here with its own source. WINK reported that the city put $2.62 million into bringing the structure up to code starting in 2024. King put in more than $1 million of his own money, and the city added more than half a million for further repairs, bringing total investment above $3 million. The city's 2024 resolution, covered above, shows a $1.92 million budget amendment. King said he pushed for a longer lease so his investment would make sense. The contract runs an initial 10 years, with two possible five-year extensions.

That lease length helps explain the new name and the new layout. An operator with a decade or more ahead of him is planning for regulars, not one-time visits.

What "tavern food" looks like at a Donald Ross course

King renamed the place himself. "I think it was Edison Restaurant, Bar and Banquet Center or something like that," he told the News-Press. "I named it Edison Tavern. It's a neighborhood place. We don't have bar food or restaurant food. We have tavern food." He tied the idea to growing up in the Midwest, where his parents took the family to taverns "to meet neighbors and friends."

The News-Press first-look photos show how far that idea goes inside the building:

• A new main bar the paper compared to "Cheers," plus a smaller bar between the tavern and the new event space
• A pool table, darts, and a golf arcade game
• A terrace with unobstructed views of the course
• A rebuilt main entrance with new flooring, painted brick, and historical photos, including a portrait of Thomas Edison in the hallway by the bar
• A mural with a sasquatch hidden in it
• Event rooms available to rent, reached through an archway off the bar

On the menu, the paper pointed to the glazed salmon rice bowl, served at lunch and dinner, and the Tootie tuna croissant as a popular lunch order. The tavern's own materials also list smashburgers, seafood, and seasonal dishes. When it reopened, the News-Press listed lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 9 p.m., without saying which days. Shortly before the reopening, King told WINK he hoped to be fully open in October, so call before planning around a particular day.

The banquet business is still there. It now sits behind the bar instead of being the main event.

Bruno's turned its first dining room into a market

Downtown, the Brunos took the same idea in a different direction. Cal and Genevieve Bruno opened Bruno's of Brooklyn on Second Street on Sept. 18, 2014. About a decade later they moved their flagship less than half a mile away to First Street, but they kept the original property.

"We are who we are today because we turned the key in that space. We had to pay homage to it." Cal Bruno, to the News-Press

They waited for the anniversary to reopen. "We could have opened a little sooner, but we waited. Until Sept. 18," Cal said. The new Bruno's of Brooklyn Italian Eatery and Market at 2112 Second Street kept the kitchen and replaced the dining tables with grocery racks. "It's much more walkable," Cal said. Seating is now at umbrella tables out front and in the courtyard on the east side of the building.

Inside the long, narrow room are imported meats and cheeses, dry pastas, wines, fresh-baked goods, and Cal's own vodka, Alfredo, and traditional sauces. The bigger change is the ready-to-go food. Genevieve said customers had long eaten in and then ordered a second meal to take home. Cal put it more simply: "People want pasta for lunch." Lasagna, chicken and veal parmesan, meatballs, and arancini come in microwave-safe containers. Made-to-order lunch is also on offer.

Same rooms, new purposes

Neither operator moved somewhere new or opened a copy of the old concept. Each kept a building with history and changed what people do once they walk in. That is a different kind of bet from the ground-up openings elsewhere in Lee County. It depends on people already knowing the address and giving them more reasons to come back.

One more south Fort Myers comeback could follow the same pattern. In July, the News-Press reported that Roadhouse Café plans to return about 14 months after it closed, and original owner Marc Neely called it "Roadhouse 2.0." As of early October, no reopening date has been confirmed.

Putting both on the fall calendar

Edison Tavern is the McGregor stop with a golf-course view. The terrace looks out over a course that has been there since 1917 and was renovated by Steve Smyers in 2014. If you're hosting a gathering this season, ask about the rooms off the bar. Bruno's on Second Street suits a weekday lunch downtown or a stop on the way home for sauce, cheese, and a tray of lasagna, with courtyard seating if you'd rather eat there. The flagship on First Street, less than half a mile away, is still the place for a full sit-down dinner.

Fort Myers spent two years waiting for the country club restaurant, and the Brunos waited for a date that mattered to them. If seeing places like these come back has you thinking about where you'd like to live in Fort Myers, from McGregor Boulevard to the downtown blocks, Mitchell Properties & Salty Hook Homes can talk through how those areas differ day to day. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll start with the parts of the city you already like best.