Walmart targets Florida’s fastest-growing city with 24-acre land buy for store

Walmart is setting up shop in Palm Beach County’s Westlake community, answering retail and grocery demand in one of the state’s fastest-growing areas. 

Coconut Creek-based developer Minto Communities USA sold a 24-acre parcel to the retail giant for a 189,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter, according to a company news release. A 1,620-square-foot gas-station convenience store pad with 10 fuel pumps and 768 parking spaces are planned, Vizzda reported.

Records show Walmart paid $11.7 million for the site, in Town Center West near 60th Street North, which works out to $487,000 per acre and $62 per square foot. 

City officials approved the Walmart Supercenter in April. Minto said the store would be adjacent to a future Lowe’s Home Improvement store, which will serve as the hardware giant’s regional headquarters. Lowe’s bought the 10.6-acre land in February for $7.5 million, records show.

Publix is the primary grocer in the area. 

Walmart held the No. 1 spot on the Fortune 500, which ranks U.S.-based companies by annual revenue, for 12 years before Amazon dethroned the supermarket giant this year. Walmart reported $713.2 billion in revenue last year, trailing Amazon’s $716.9 billion.

Minto, Westlake’s master developer, said demand is strong for the community’s 2.2 million square feet of approved commercial development, with half already sold and another large outparcel slated to come to market soon. 

Walmart owns the vast majority of its stores, and Publix is on the forefront of the trend of grocers buying shopping centers they previously leased. 

Residential growth in Westlake isn’t slowing. 

The community is approved for 6,000 homes, with more construction underway, including a GL Homes community. Westlake’s population reached over 9,000 people last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It had just over 900 residents in 2020, a 900 percent spike in five years.

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