OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Downtown Ocala is getting ready for a major transformation that will impact those who live, work, and own businesses.
Two large-scale projects are breaking ground which means both growth and short-term disruptions. For those who live, work, or do business downtown, these changes mean improved infrastructure in the long run but temporary detours and construction in the months ahead.
The City of Ocala held a public meeting on April 9, 2025, at the Brick City Center for the Arts to discuss the upcoming construction of Parking Garage No. 2 and the Downtown AC Hotel. Both projects will be built by Ocala-based SSC Construction Management. The AC Hotel is expected to be completed in late 2026 and will sit one block east of the RaceTrac location. The parking garage will be one block south of the hotel.
The projects will span two adjacent city blocks. Construction on the garage will take place Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“We’ve been officially given notice to proceed on the garage next month, and we’ll start with the site preparation,” said Tom Files, SSC Construction Management president. “Specific to the pre-cast itself, once we start vertically erecting, there won’t be weekend work, but that’s not to say that there won’t be weekend work on both of the sites… There likely will be weekend work on both projects. But the maintenance and the traffic in terms of the closures won’t affect downtown businesses during the weekend, as we’ll pull all that signage.”
The new parking garage will include 805 parking spaces across six levels. Materials used in the build will include brick, spandrels, wall panels with faux window openings, and window treatments. Features will include electric vehicle charging stations, expanded plaza space, a monument honoring Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, formerly located on the site, and a speed ramp with flat floors for passive security.
Ingress and egress points will be mid-block on SW 2nd and 3rd Avenues. The garage is currently in the design phase, with site prep starting this spring, followed by foundational work in the fall and vertical construction in winter.
Sidewalks around the site will be closed, and pedestrians will be detoured. SW Broadway St. from SW 2nd Ave. to SW 3rd Ave. will also be closed, with detours provided.
“It’s exciting… but we recognize there’s going to be some impacts to the downtown,” said Aubrey Hale, City of Ocala planning director.
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