Walmart Submits Plans for Massive Supercenter Near The Villages
 

Walmart Submits Plans for Massive Supercenter Near The Villages |

A new Walmart Supercenter is set to rise at the intersection of State Road 44 and Morse Boulevard, near The Villages Grown Processing Plant. The 200,000-square-foot store will be a major addition to the area, offering expanded shopping options, modern conveniences, and advanced technology to meet the needs of local residents.

The Supercenter will feature a 2,904-square-foot fenced garden center and at least 20 gasoline pumps under a 6,120-square-foot fuel station canopy. The site plan, covering 81 pages, was recently submitted to Wildwood city officials for review and approval.

Located at 1155 Waxman Drive, the new Walmart will occupy 33.5 acres of land owned by The Villages Land Operating Co. The site includes 867 parking spaces and 38 cart corrals on 14.75 acres. Access to the store will be available via Morse Boulevard and Waxman Drive, where a new traffic light may be installed to ease traffic flow.

Additional site features include storm water retention ponds to manage drainage, with some runoff expected to flow under Morse Boulevard to the east.

Several key subcontractors have been selected for the project, including Teco Water, Spectrum, SECO Energy, and Virus Water, a local firm based in Lake Sumter Landing, responsible for installing the sanitary sewer system. CPH, LLC of Sanford will serve as the project’s engineer, environmental consultant, surveyor, traffic controller, and landscape architect. The building architect will be Cores State Group of Minneapolis.

The development will be completed in two phases, with initial site preparation followed by construction. The new Walmart Supercenter is part of the company’s larger five-year growth strategy, which includes building 150 new stores and remodeling 650 existing locations across 47 states and Puerto Rico. This new store will also embrace Walmart’s “Store of the Future” concept, which focuses on enhancing shopper convenience, expanding product selections, and implementing cutting-edge technology.

I'm hoping for Robotic Greeters and Self-Checkout Scans, from overhead infrared readers

Autonomous carts that drive themselves to one of the "cart corrals" would be nice, too..

Even Amazon couldn’t bring those to fruition!

Expand the roads now.

:ho:

OP, I see where you got the map, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. I don't see Morse Blvd or Waxman Drive. Also, the map shows State Road 44 (not County Road 44) and County Road 466. Am I missing something?

FYI.............the road on the right side is CR 468.....a/k/a Morse.

The map is (more or less) the corner of 44 & Morse.

Correct. They mention it in the article, but don't show it on the map. They also mention Morse Blvd, but don't show that on the map. They refer to State Road 44, but it is really County Road 44. Very poor communication.

Wow
 

The store is mammoth. It sure is a welcoming addition for retail and groceries. I wonder if the Publix across the road at Kristine Way will survive.

The traffic light between the condos and 44 on Morse is genius. There will be plenty of room to turn.

Not exactly. Both the Villages maps and the Google maps show those roads as Morse Blvd and County Road 44. Even the link you provided says that part of State Road 44 is now a county road, CR 44.

Hopefully they will do something to move traffic before the store opens

Note that the Walmart article map indicates "State Route 44" not state road. As I understand it, that section of the road is a county road that is maintained by the county.

But, my point is that Walmart presented a future building on a completely out-of-date map which is confusing to a lot of people. To make it more confusing, they mentioned Waxman Drive, which doesn't even exist and they didn't even indicate where it will be on the map. Very poor communication.

Waxman is there but isn’t labeled. It runs from SR/CR44 to Morse Blvd, right above the greenhouses. I do agree that it is a very poor map.

NO mention about this Walmart being GOLF CART accessible. Realize that adding golf cart accessibility would require a bridge over Morse Blvd or a tunnel somewhere along Morse Blvd (likely south of the 44 and Morse Blvd intersection). Bet this doesn't happen......too expensive to tunnel under an existing roadway or add another bridge.

. Here’s Waxman in red.

Yes, it’s a small gate in the fence at the rear of Villages Grown on Morse and it already has a turn lane demarkation in the median where the road is slightly widened. If you entered from Morse and continuously followed Waxman driving behind Villages Grown you would eventually encounter 44 where it is already slightly widened again with yet another gate.

Also hinted on the Villages maps.

Seems unlikely but they did it at Warm Springs at Meggison.

That was part of widening Warm Springs to four lanes.

And do not forget the traffic the new Costco will create.

The traffic at 44 and Morse intersection is going to be bananas during high season.

I don't think they can construct a tunnel there due to marshy conditions...It would have to be a bridge.

CR468 was renamed Morse Blvd and made 4 lane when The Villages expanded south of 44.

So now Brownwood will have close access to Walmart as well as Target. Shouldn't hurt property values.

Need a couple of good sports bars next. Hooters is ok but an Ale House would be great.

it will survive just like up at Colony as many of us don't want Walmart junk, especially in the grocery area.

Can’t wait! Publix will still get its 40 customers an hour. I heard the villages will have to move the growing units to another location.

Mitigation before excavation!!

No! Please put it in Eastport instead!!
 

There are no big box stores in the Citrus Grove and Eastport areas. To improve convenience and better distribute traffic flow Eastport or Warm Springs Road area would do just that.

Will public survive? I only go to Publix cause conveniently located near me for few items.
Sure it will affect them some.
Some people will not shop at Walmart. Will that be enough for Publix to survive at that location?

Golf cart access
 

How do you get to the new Walmarts by Golf Cart?

Right now, on a trailer.

Good news! Finally, the prospect of some retail accessible to us 'southerners'!
Thanks for posting!

They’ll coexist just fine...

Horrible traffic at that intersection
 

Located at 1155 Waxman Drive, the new Walmart will occupy 33.5 acres of land owned by The Villages Land Operating Co. The site includes 867 parking spaces and 38 cart corrals on 14.75 acres. Access to the store will be available via Morse Boulevard and Waxman Drive, where a new traffic light may be installed to ease traffic flow.

This intersection is a nightmare now. There are plenty of accidents. One was even fatal recently . With the new schools in the south, traffic backs up terrible in both directions during the morning time frame of 7 to 8 as well as 2:45 to 5 now! It backs up through the traffic circle on Morse before you get to the light . It also backs up to the traffic circle at times where it splits from Morse to warm springs. I hope they do a traffic study because I don’t foresee it getting any better putting in a Walmart on that corner .

A good "store of the future" concept would be shopping carts that operate properly over time :)

Will there be an auto center there?

As an added angle to this discussion, I noted in the post by RsenHolzi that the Walmart will be built on land owned by the Villages Land Operating Co.

While Walmart's are well known for allowing overnighters to park in their parking lots, that does not always happen. Overnighters with their travel trailers or R.V.s are usually not an issue, but some people that tend to live in their cars end up taking advantage of this generosity also. *Some*times that is more than just travelers or honest folks hard on their luck. *Some*times, that is drug-addicted thieves that bring trouble, blight, and lack of safety to the area.

I knew of a Walmart where overnight camping was not allowed because Walmart did not own the parking lot but simply leased it. The actual owners did not allow the generous Walmart policy and maintained enforcement of their own rules.

Time will tell how this is handled at this new Walmart Supercenter.

That could very well be a condition of the permit by the developer. If so, the enforcement would be on Walmart and Wildwood?

To address the posters who commented that the Rt 44 road at Morse Blvd is a state road, here is the official answer from the FDOT:

Dear Requestor:

Good afternoon.

Thank you for reaching out to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) regarding State Road 44 in The Villages.

After some research I was able to determine that west of the intersection of S.R.44 and Buena Vista Drive/Heritage Boulevard the roadway is managed by the State and is designated S.R. 44. East of the intersection the roadway is managed by the county and designated E. C.R. 44.

Morse Boulevard is at the intersection of E.C.R. 44.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thank you,

Florida Department of Transportation
719 South Woodland Boulevard
DeLand, Florida 32720
melanie.hand@dot.state.fl.us

I love the concern over traffic at 44 and Morse. Imagine if there was any… 🤣

Agreed
 

Yes, it’s already a 4 lane on both roads. Furthermore, a right turn lane off 44 East could easily be expanded onto Villages property for convenience and could be used to turn directly into the store lot. In addition Morse already has the northbound median access lane right after the fire department for the Waxman gate. The area is nothing like costal 19 or the 1.

44 is ripe for expansion of business. It can fill a large void of shopping convenience.

I know many will disagree but large retail, Walmart in particular, never raises an area's "standard of living". They always bring massive traffic, shoppers from outside the area who may or may not share the same beliefs as the local neighborhoods do, which means a significant bump in crime. I've seen it happen twice when we lived in Georgia, but hey, at least I have big box store shopping near by!

Go talk to the loss prevention folks at Target , Lowe’s and HD too....it is what it is. You can’t say ‘Yay....we’re getting a super Walmart’ out of one side of the face and ‘...but it’s synonymous with crime’ out the other side!

You know where the most dangerous place in America was at 240pm on Saturday (for those minutes surrounding it)...that’s right...Leesburg!! Johnny, tell them what they’ve won!

Trust me when I say, my "but hey, at least I have big box store shopping near by!" could not have been more facetious and was somewhat aimed at those that only see the 'convenience' but never all of what these business' bring.