Taylor Morrison of Florida buys large Artisan Lakes parcel

BUYER: Taylor Woodrow Communities at Artisan Lakes LLC (Taylor Morrison of Florida Inc.), Sarasota

SELLER: Property Reserve Inc.

PROPERTY: a portion of Buckeye Road, Moccasin Wallow Road and 40th Avenue East, Palmetto

PRICE: $4.22 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $4.27 million, August 1986 (includes additional parcels)

LAW FIRM ON DEED: GrayRobinson PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Taylor Morrison of Florida Inc. purchased 322 acres in the Artisan Lakes community for $4.22 million.

The price equated to $13,093 per acre.

Taylor Woodrow, prior to its corporate merger to create Taylor Morrison, committed to buying 1,000 acres to create Artisan Lakes at the northwest corner of Interstate 75 and Moccasin Wallow Road. The master-planned community was scheduled to begin construction in March 2008. However, the real estate market crashed before the homebuilder could begin.

With this piece, Taylor Morrison now owns 700 acres in the community.

“The whole [homebuilder] market now is buying land so we felt why not buy the balance [of the next phase] of the community,” says Jeff Cooper, vice president of sales and marketing in the Sarasota office of Taylor Morrison. “That will give us more control over what we do there.”

Taylor Morrison hopes to hold a grand opening early next year. The community is expected to house 1,800 single-family lots.