By Kyle Coppola
Waffle House Coming To Lady Lake Will Be Golf Cart-Accessible
LADY LAKE, Fla. — Waffle House is making its debut in The Villages area, with a new location set to open in front of BJ’s Wholesale Club in Lady Lake. Sumter County BOOC Jared Oberholtzer confirmed that the restaurant will occupy the building nearing completion on a site previously used as a retention pond, situated behind USB Bank. Work to fill in the retention pond and grassy area took months but construction has been moving at a steady pace.
The new Waffle House, a favorite breakfast and late-night spot, will be golf cart-accessible, and offer Villages residents and locals the chance to eat at Waffle House without having to travel as far. While technically in Lady Lake, the restaurant’s location is near the Summerfield border, in a high-traffic area experiencing rapid development.
This area has seen a surge in activity, driven by two recently constructed apartment complexes behind BJ’s and the growing popularity of nearby retail outlets. While excitement is high, concerns have been raised about the impact on traffic, which has already intensified with the area’s continued booming growth.
(This is an image of where Waffle House will stand. The land used to be a retention pond which was filled in to make way for the Waffle House.)
(This was after work was done to fill in the retention pond along with ground plumbing and electrical.)
Waffle House locations in Leesburg, Mount Dora, Clermont, and Wildwood have consistently drawn large crowds, and the addition of this location brings the beloved chain closer to residents of The Villages. The iconic diner is expected to be a popular destination much like Dennys and Cracker Barrel have been. I do want to point out if you want to support local business, Billy’s Cafe is in the area as well and can always use the support. We love locally owned and operated business.
While an opening date has not been announced, construction is getting close to being finished. We have also not heard if there are any job hiring opportunities but if we find out we will be sure to pass that along.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
