Marion County Public Schools is set to turn dirt at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7, for a new Lake Weir Middle School in Ocala, kicking off a roughly $62–63 million replacement for the district’s aging campus. The public is invited to the groundbreaking at the construction site, where officials say the project is planned to serve more than 1,400 students and be ready for the 2027 school year.
Project details
Construction manager Skanska reports it holds the contract to build the new school on a 30-acre greenfield site at 685 Oak Road in Ocala and describes the job as roughly a $62 million project. As reported by WFTV, the district is calling the new campus a three-story, 141,000-square-foot facility designed for more than 1,400 students, while Skanska’s project release puts the campus at about 156,000 square feet with 43 classrooms and new athletic fields. Skanska lists PBK as the project architect.
Budget, schedule and permitting
The school board signed off on a guaranteed maximum price of about $62.7 million at an Oct. 28, 2025, meeting, according to local reporting and board documents. Marion County Public Schools’ FastFacts notes that crews encountered protected species on the property, which led Skanska to request 75 extra days; the district bulletin explains that substantial completion was pushed to Aug. 6, 2027, to make room for required permits and relocations. 352Today reports on the GMP figures and construction timeline, while the district’s own update outlines the wildlife permitting issues.
Environmental and procurement concerns
Local coverage has flagged both environmental complications and concerns about how the construction team was chosen in the lead-up to work starting. The Ocala Gazette reported that relocating gopher tortoises and clearing other permits could slow the schedule, and that some school board members questioned how firms were scored during the contractor selection process, raising transparency concerns.
Groundbreaking ceremony details
The April 7 ceremony is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. and will feature remarks from School Board Chair Dr. Sarah James and Superintendent Dr. Danielle Brewer, with lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Randy Fine and state Rep. Ryan Chamberlin also slated to speak, according to WFTV. The program will include performances by the Lake Weir Middle School band and the Lake Weir High School JROTC color guard, along with comments from Matt McCormick of the Ocala CEP and a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.
Why it matters for Ocala families
District officials say the new Lake Weir Middle is intended to bring classrooms up to modern standards, add life-safety upgrades and new athletics facilities, and ease enrollment strain in southwest Marion County. Marion County Public Schools presents the project as part of a larger capital push to renovate aging buildings and add capacity across the system, with permitting and site work continuing as construction crews gear up following the ceremony, according to Marion County Public Schools.
