A large horse farm slated to become a 1,500+ unit housing development in southwest Ocala, has been sold for nearly $32 million to a company based in south Florida.
Cradle Holdings, Inc. sold the former Winding Oaks Farm property for $31,725,000 to KL Winding Oaks, LLC, on July 23, according to a deed filed with the Marion County Clerk of Courts.
The property is situated at 4090 SW 66th Street and is comprised of two parcels totaling over 736 acres.
KL Winding Oaks, LLC was formed in June by The Kolter Group, LLC, a real estate investment company based in Delray Beach, Florida.
The development at the former Winding Oaks Farm has been years in the works. In March, Ocala City Council members approved the Winding Oaks Community Development District (CDD), clearing the way for the construction of at least 1,700 homes at the southwest Ocala site.
With the authorization to plan, finance, construct, operate, and maintain the infrastructure at the development, the Kolter Group is positioning itself at the head of another large-scale community similar to others it has created in nearby municipalities.
That includes Hammock Oaks in Lady Lake, Beaumont and 100 Oaks in Wildwood, and Terra Largo in Lakeland, among others.
The same week that the Winding Oaks CDD was approved in March, officials broke ground on a new elementary school located at 7200 SW 49th Avenue Road. That school is slated to serve the Winding Oaks community.
At one point, Winding Oaks Farm was comprised of parcels totaling over 1,000 acres. With the development of a large portion of the property, only a few hundred acres of the former farm will remain undeveloped.
County records show that the 735-acre parcel was sold in 2002 for $13,925,000 by Harry and Dorothy Mangurian to Cradle Holdings, a company associated with the late Eugene Melnyk. Melnyk was a billionaire and former chairman of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators who died in 2022 following several months of illness.
Cradle Holdings, Inc. is still associated with the late Canadian businessman’s family, with Adrian Melnyk listed as the vice president of the company.
The sale of the large equestrian estate in Ocala comes just weeks after another large equestrian property was sold: Classic Mile Park, a 700-acre horse park located in west Ocala, sold for $26.9 million on July 16 to the owners of the World Equestrian Center.