Lakewood Ranch sales rebound

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Lakewood Ranch saw 107 new home sales in the first quarter of 2011, up from 31 sales in last year's first quarter. Many of those recent buyers had been waiting to enter the market, says Jimmy Stewart, director of sales at LWR Communities.

“Ten of our homebuyers this quarter first came looking at Lakewood Ranch back in 2007,” Stewart says in a statement.

In addition to the gains in sales, community officials say visitor traffic is up as well. They estimate that 5,300 people visited Lakewood Ranch models and information centers, up from 3,500 in the first quarter of 2010.

Those new visitors might be drawn by 40 new model homes and 130 homes currently under construction, a statement says.

Beyond the spike in residential activity, the community also says a new business — Urban Accents, a home accessory store — is preparing to open on Main Street this summer. A cooking school is set to open in August, and new apartments are being built on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, north of State Road 70.