Where Homes Were Planned Beside I-75, "The Exchange at Ocala" Could Bring a Grocery and Shops

The land sits between Interstate 75 and the new SW 49th Avenue Road, along the north side of SW 66th Street in southwest Ocala. In May, the Ocala City Council approved a plan to build 592 single-family lots on the larger property around it. Now the company that bought the tract beside the interstate wants something different, and its attorney has put in writing what that might be: an anchor grocery, restaurants, shops and offices, a "commercial node" serving the surrounding neighborhoods. Nothing of the kind has been approved.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, the council took the first step. It voted 5-0 to waive the city's one-year wait for a new rezoning, so the company can file a request for what its site plan calls The Exchange at Ocala PD now, rather than waiting until May 2027.

What the vote lets the developer do

Under Section 122-134 of the city's land development code, a property cannot be rezoned again for one year after a rezoning is approved, unless the council waives the wait by a vote of at least three members. According to the staff memo on the Oct. 20 agenda item, the owners asked for the waiver so that a rezoning application could be considered before May 5, 2027, one year after the original approval. Staff recommended approval and listed no fiscal impact. The council's meeting synopsis shows the waiver approved on a motion by Council Member Kristen Dreyer, seconded by Barry Mansfield, with Jay Musleh, Dreyer, James Hilty Sr., Mansfield and Council President Ire Bethea Sr. all voting yes.

The vote does not rezone anything. It only lets the application be filed early. The records we reviewed do not include a filed application or a hearing date.

How one big residential plan split in two

The story starts with the May 5 council meeting. That day, the council rezoned about 283.55 acres west of I-75 and north of SW 66th Street, within the Heath Brook development, from PUD-02 to a planned development called Mockingbird Ridge. According to the minutes of that meeting, the city's Chief Planning Official described a 592-lot single-family plan consistent with the Heath Brook entitlements approved earlier, and said the rezoning was needed because a final plan for the old PUD had never been approved. The Planning and Zoning Board had unanimously recommended approval with conditions, and the council adopted the rezoning 5-0.

Then the property changed hands. The Oct. 20 staff memo says the original owner sold 108.74 acres of the planned development to Flyover Ocala, LLC, and that Flyover wants to develop that land differently from the approved plan. Flyover's September application for the waiver, dated Sept. 9, lists Sheldon Rubin of Flyover Ocala, LLC as the petitioner and the property address as 4070 SW 66th St. The waiver exhibit filed with it outlines the tract labeled "Future Exchange at Ocala PD (east of SW 49th Ave Rd)," with I-75 along its east edge and SW 66th Street along its south edge. A note on the exhibit says the request is "due to changes of ownership as a result of the recent construction of SW 49th Avenue Road."

The memo says Flyover wants to carve those 108.74 acres out into a new planned development with its own plan and standards book. A Community Development District was established on May 19, 2026, covering the western 169.31 acres of the original 283.55-acre project area, and staff said amending the planned development would have no direct impact on it.

What the owners say they want to build

No site plan for The Exchange appears in the records we reviewed, but a letter in the council's records says more. On Oct. 15, attorney Robert W. Batsel Jr. wrote to City Manager Peter Lee asking for the city's consent to represent Flyover Ocala, LLC and R.C.P. Ocala, LLC on the rezoning. Batsel is a former city attorney, and he wrote that he and his firm previously represented the city on matters involving the Heath Brook development of regional impact. The letter says he anticipates modifying the plan "to depart from the entitled residential use" and using the land as a commercial node that provides a transition from I-75 and serves the surrounding residential development.

Batsel wrote that the intended uses "may include" an anchor grocery and a mix of commercial uses: retail, restaurants, professional office and employment center uses. He argued that the project would keep traffic local, since residents who now go to busier areas such as the State Road 200 corridor for those services could find them closer to home. He also wrote that he had so far held only an initial meeting with the applicants, Sheldon and Emily Rubin, and their planner. No tenant, square footage or opening date appears in anything we found, and those uses are the owners' stated intentions, not an approved plan.

One number does not line up neatly. The staff memo refers to 108.74 acres, while Batsel's letter describes about 128.22 acres owned by his two clients within the Heath Brook development. Neither document explains the difference. The city's agenda item for Batsel's request says Flyover owns part of the current Mockingbird Ridge planned development, that R.C.P. Ocala, LLC owns part of the Heath Brook planned development, and that the coming rezonings will be separate requests for each owner. The acreage in any application will not be known until it is filed.

What happens next

The next public step is already on the calendar. At its Tuesday, Nov. 3 meeting, which starts at 4 p.m. at Ocala City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., the council is asked to consent to Batsel representing Flyover and R.C.P. on the rezoning. Batsel's letter had asked for a decision at the Oct. 20 meeting, but the item did not appear on that meeting's synopsis. The agenda item says staff has no issues with the representation, because staff believes his earlier role was limited to reviewing legal documents for the development of regional impact. The agenda item adds that the rezonings may also further modify the Heath Brook development of regional impact, so the process may involve more than a simple map change.

If the company files, the May case shows the likely path. That request went to the Planning and Zoning Board first, then to a public hearing before the council, where neighbors could speak. Both May items were quasi-judicial hearings. Residents near SW 66th Street, SW 49th Avenue Road and the Heath Brook neighborhoods can follow the filing and any hearing dates on the city's Legistar calendar, where agendas are posted before each meeting.

For the wider picture, see our Oct. 20 meeting recap, our Nov. 3 agenda preview, our guide to the SW 66th Street bridge closure and the nearby Market Street at Heath Brook. We will update this story when an application or hearing date is posted.

Sources: City of Ocala Legistar records for the Oct. 20 and Nov. 3, 2026 City Council meetings (the waiver agenda item and its staff memo, the waiver application and exhibit, the council synopsis, the Nov. 3 agenda item and the attorney's Oct. 15 letter) and the minutes of the May 5, 2026 City Council meeting, all read Nov. 2, 2026. AI tools helped gather the sources and draft this page; each fact was checked against those sources before publishing.