Taylor Morrison buys land for 1,800-acre Naples Esplanade

BUYER: Taylor Morrison Esplanade Naples LLC (principals: S. Todd Merrill, Louis Steffens, Stephen Wethor, Douglas Miller, John Kempton and Maurice Johnson), Scottsdale, Ariz.
SELLER: IMCollier Joint Venture
PROPERTY: a portion of land roughly between Immokalee Road and the Village Walk of Bonita Springs community, Naples
PRICE: $32 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: GrayRobinson PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Homebuilder Taylor Morrison purchased 1,798 acres of land on Immokalee Road east of Interstate 75 in northern Collier County for $32 million.

The price equated to $17,798 per acre.

Cammie Longenecker, vice president of sales and marketing for Taylor Morrison West Florida, says in an email that the homebuilder was attracted to the site because it saw “an opportunity in the market to develop a premiere golf community located in an ideal area of Naples.”

The homebuilder plans to create 799 single-family home lots on the property in a community it is calling Esplanade Golf and Country Club of Naples. As currently conceived, the project will include an 18-hole championship golf course, welcome center and 12-acre, 28,000-square-foot Village Center amenity facility.
The homebuilder is scheduled to start developing the property later this year.

Taylor Morrison already has two other Esplanade communities under development in Sarasota and Manatee counties: the Esplanade Golf and Country Club at Lakewood Ranch and the Esplanade by Siesta Key. The Lakewood Ranch Esplanade, which is a year old, is currently planned with 1,250 detached villas, estates and coach homes. Construction just started on the Siesta Key community, where another 247 homes sites are proposed.

The purchase entity Taylor Morrison Esplanade Naples LLC mortgaged the property back to the former owner IMCollier Joint Venture for $27 million.