BJ’s Wholesale Club has officially broken ground on its first location in Ocala, which is expected to open its doors to the public later this year.
The company held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday morning to celebrate the start of construction on the new membership-based warehouse club.
Photographs provided by the retailer’s public relations team captured the ceremonial dirt-turning event, marking a major milestone for the highly anticipated project.
Located at 7030 SW 59th Avenue, the new BJ’s Wholesale Club is a key commercial component of the massive Winding Oaks mixed-use development.
The sprawling, 960-acre project is taking shape on the former Winding Oaks Farm property, situated just east of State Road 200 and north of SW 80th Street.
The land, which was previously owned by the late Eugene Melnyk, billionaire and owner of the Ottawa Senators, was purchased for nearly $32 million in July 2024.
The buyer, KL Winding Oaks, LLC, is an entity established by The Kolter Group, a real estate investment and development firm headquartered in Palm Beach County.
BJ’s Wholesale Club finalized the acquisition of its 12-acre parcel within the development on December 1, 2025, according to a statement previously issued by the commercial real estate firm Colliers.
Well before this week’s groundbreaking ceremony, crews had been actively clearing and preparing the site, operating heavy machinery and staging materials like drainage pipes for installation. In 2024, city officials approved the creation of the Winding Oaks Community Development District to facilitate the project’s infrastructure, funding more than $80.1 million in water, wastewater, roadway, and stormwater systems.
When the entire Winding Oaks community is completed, it will feature approximately 2,028 single-family homes, 240 townhomes, and 888 multifamily units being built by D.R. Horton. Additionally, the master-planned development will feature 270 acres of retail and commercial uses along State Road 200.
The new BJ’s Wholesale Club will provide Marion County residents with just their second warehouse shopping option, joining the existing Sam’s Club located about five miles north on SW College Road. Outside of Ocala, the nearest BJ’s location is in Lady Lake.
Both the Lady Lake warehouse, which opened in 2022, and the new Ocala location are projects spearheaded by Matthew Development.
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