DR Horton drops $65M for 97 acres in Homestead

Homebuilding giant D.R. Horton dropped $65 million for 97 acres of Homestead farmland for its planned Sandero Landing community.

Records show D.R. Horton bought the site at Southwest 328th Street and Southeast 6th Street from the Alger family, led by Richard Alger. The Algers are longtime Homestead farmers, and their Alger Farms specializes in growing sweet corn and green beans. They own other agricultural fields in the area in addition to the land they sold.

D.R. Horton is planning Sandero Landing, a mixed-use development with more 1,170 residential units and more than 216,000 square feet of commercial space, according to a report from Vizzda. 

Sandero Landing is slated to have 417 multifamily units, 691 townhouse units and 62 live-work units. The commercial component of the development will include a 30,000-square-foot grocery store, 20,000-square-foot fitness center, and 13,000-square-foot urgent care facility. The community will also have a clubhouse and a pedestrian-only shopping corridor, according to the website of architect Valle Valle & Partners. 

Arlington, Texas-based D.R. Horton is one of the mega-developers that have honed in on Homestead in recent years, drawn to the city by its large tracts of undeveloped land and Miami-Dade County’s surging demand for housing. It’s taking advantage of the boom across South Florida; in November, D.R. Horton dropped $9.4 million on a Palm Beach Gardens site for 111 townhouses. 

It’s been a year of shake-ups for D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder by volume. Founder Donald R. Horton died in May, and the company’s Executive Vice Chairman David V. Auld was promoted to executive chairman of the firm. Paul Romanowski was appointed CEO in September, following Auld’s nine-year run in the role. 

Despite inflation and high interest rates, the firm saw a 14 percent jump in home sales in the first quarter of the year. Warren Buffett made headlines last year when he invested roughly $726 million in D.R. Horton, signaling confidence in strong demand for the nation’s short supply of housing.