Lennar pays $23.65M for more than 2,900 acres north of Tampa

Miami-based Lennar Corp., the nation’s largest home builder, bought more than 2,900 acres in a northern suburb of Tampa for $23.65 million.

The land is in the Land O’ Lakes area of Pasco County, east of the Suncoast Parkway toll road and south of State Road 52.

The land has no development entitlements but is located amid an expanding road network.

The Florida Department of Transportation will expand State Road 52 from two lanes to six from the Suncoast Parkway east to U.S. Highway 41, a $48 million project scheduled to start next year. And starting in 2019, a nearby two-lane stretch of U.S. 41 will be widened.

Mark Metheny, president of the Central Florida division of Lennar, told the Tampa Bay Times in an email that the company “is in the early stages of imagining the possibilities for this property.”

Lennar, which already is building homes at other developments in Pasco County, bought more than 2,900 acres from a company controlled by the Bexley family.

The family once had a ranch that spanned 15,000 acres in Land O’ Lakes.

Lennar’s newly acquired land in Land O’ Lakes is part of 6,400 acres that the family’s Angeline Corp. listed for sale in November 2015. Brokerage firm Avison Young is marketing other parcels on behalf of Angeline Corp.

Michael Fay, principal and managing director of Avison Young in Miami, told the Tampa Bay Times in an email that “the time was right” for the family to sell some of their land and “they retain a significant amount of SR 52 frontage.” [Tampa Bay Times] – Mike Seemuth