GL Homes just paid $50 million for about 265 acres of land in Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve, property records show.
The sprawling development site sits between State Road 7 and Lyons Road, just north of 130th Street South.
GL’s Boynton Beach Associates XXVI bought the land from a company tied to Boynton Beach-based home-builder Ansca Homes. Records show the developer financed the deal with a $30 million mortgage from Wells Fargo.
GL Homes routinely builds on Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve, which has seen a major influx of housing development over the past few years. The agricultural reserve’s rules of development require builders to leave 60 acres untouched for every 40 acres they develop.
Records show a joint venture between Ansca Homes and Kenco Communities paid $17 million for the land in 2003. Two years later the partnership won county approval to build 283 homes, which required setting aside 154 acres for preservation.
GL Homes also has its eyes set on 22,000 acres of land west of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, also in the preserve, where it wants to build 2,420 homes. But the home builder withdrew its proposal last month so that it could garner more community support for its plans.