A planning firm that works extensively with Walmart is eyeing a site on Osceola County’s busy Old Lake Wilson Road corridor for a new stand-alone grocery store.
Morgan Hampton and Mark Socha with CPH held a pre-application meeting this week with Osceola County’s Development Review Committee to discuss the project planned for 7 acres across from the Mystic Dunes Resort & Golf Club.
The conceptual plan includes a 53,056-square-foot grocery store with EV parking, pickup and delivery, and an attached liquor store. Hampton said the firm is currently conducting a study to confirm it can install a traffic light at Mystic Dunes Lane. The entrance to the site would be a right-in, right-out driveway north of the proposed traffic intersection.
One thing the plan doesn’t show is any on-site drainage ponds. “We are proposing everything underground because of how small the site is,” Hampton clarified.
Alexander Menna, senior engineer for the county, said that the underground storage is allowed, as long as the developer submits a geotechnical report with the soil characteristics and drainage analysis.
The property is currently owned by RMJF Properties Inc., which is affiliated with Brazilian business executive Fabio Zogbi, one of the founders of credit card company CREDZ. It has Commercial Tourist Zoning, so the buyer could proceed directly to the site development permitting stage without rezoning.
RMJF had at one time owned 90 acres at the Four Corners location. RMJF previously sold 24 acres to Lennar Homes in 2021 for $4.5 million. The homebuilder developed a 204-unit townhouse community called Lake Wilson Reserve.
In 2024, Tampa’s DeBartolo Development purchased 30.7 acres across from Mystic Dunes. The developer had approved plans for a 300-unit apartment complex on the property, which abuts the proposed grocery site on the west and south, but has not commenced construction.
Across the street, NRP Group and equity partner Angelo Gordon completed a 337-unit Class-A complex called Cypress Ridge.
Walmart has been spending liberally across Central Florida to add more grocery stores, big boxes and Sam’s Club locations.
The company is currently in permitting for a new Walmart Neighborhood Market nearby on U.S. 192 at Everest Place and has plans for a Neighborhood Market at Westview in Poinciana and at Hammock Oaks in Lady Lake.
In February, Walmart paid $35 million for 16+ acres in Orlando’s tourism corridor with frontage on I-4 between Disney and Universal.
Plans filed in December with the City of St. Cloud call for a 187,400-square-foot big box anchor on 40 acres of prime land on E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway. The size and layout of the store, which includes a drive-thru pharmacy and associated 20-pump fueling station and convenience store, make it a likely candidate for a Walmart Supercenter.
In Apopka, Walmart recently bought about 64.5 acres of vacant land at 3951 W. Kelly Park Rd., located about a half mile west of the interchange with State Road 429 (Wekiva Parkway). The company paid about $21.2 million in a deal that closed on Jan. 9.
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