The Northeast Florida division of a national homebuilder is developing new neighborhoods, looking to acquire more land and going after a generation that hasn't jumped into the homebuying market yet.
Matt Devereaux, the president of Miami-based Lennar Homes' regional division, said Lennar is seeking to grab the attention of young professionals.
“What we're trying to capture is the millennial buyer who hasn't yet decided to buy,” he said. “The millennial buyer has been slow to get to the market and has been focused on other things in their life.”
Now that many in that generation are marrying and having children, they are looking at forming plans to buy their first house, he said.
The comments from Devereaux came about a week after Lennar's division purchased 31 finished homesites for $1.47 million in the Osprey Landing community from Clay Investment Fund XIV LLC, based in St. Augustine.
The acquisition bumps the number of homes in the neighborhood to 227, all of which are single-family lots with square footage ranging from 1,544 to nearly 2,400.
Osprey Landing, which Devereaux said starting selling about four months ago, is on Dunn Avenue near Interstate 295 in North Jacksonville. Homes there start at $199,990 and rise to $244,990, and come with either three or four bedrooms. All have two-car garages and two to three bathrooms. Two other homebuilders are selling and building in the same neighborhood, Richmond American Homes and Ashley Homes.
Lennar also submitted plans to the St. Johns River Water Management District in late July to build 60 townhomes on the south side of Atlantic Boulevard between Brookside Circle West and Jork Road.
The community is planned to be named Pottsburg Pointe and will comprise three-bedroom units, ranging from 1,600 square feet to 1,800 square feet. The townhomes will start in the high $100,000 range and top off in the low $200,000 range.
Devereaux said Lennar hasn’t determined what amenities will be included in the community but said all of the division's homes come with features and add-ons for which many other homebuilders charge extra, like stainless steel appliances.
“It all comes in the base price of the home,” he said. “So you don't feel like you're being nickled and dimed.”
Devereaux added that he and his staff are working on building more homes in the region. The division has 38 active communities in Duval, St. Johns and Clay counties, and it also is considering a move into Nassau County.
“We have a lot of things in the works right now,” he said. “Nothing that I can speak about right now but we have our crosshairs on all counties.”
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