Neal Communities buys land for 100-home Estero Place

BUYER: Neal Communities of Southwest Florida LLC, Sarasota
SELLER: OB Florida CRE Holdings LLC
PROPERTY: southwest corner of Corkscrew Road and Three Oaks Boulevard, Estero
PRICE: $3.03 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Adams and Reese LLP, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Lakewood Ranch-based homebuilder Neal Communities Inc. continued its expansion into Southwest Florida with the purchase of 53 acres in Estero for $3.03 million.

The price equated to $57,075 per acre.

The homebuilder envisions developing the property into a gated community called Estero Place. The property, which is currently entitled as a mixed-use development with commercial and residential space, will still need to go through an amendment process to convert it over to a pure residential community.

“We don't plan to keep the commercial space,” says Jason Frost, land acquisition consultant for Neal Communities. “We considered partnering with someone else, but we found that there weren't any tenants that wanted to be at that location. It's in a pretty saturated retail area with Gulf Coast Town Center, Coconut Point and Miromar [Outlets].”

Instead, Neal Communities is planning to develop 100 single-family homes on the site. Frost says the reasons that make the retail components unworkable, make the site more attractive for residential.

The proposed community's location was particularly alluring to the builder because it is across the street from where Neal Communities is already developing the 110-attached-duplexes community Villas Palmeras.

Neal Communities plans to design the home lots to back up either to conservation land or a water feature from the Estero River, which bisects the property. Homes will have 1,870 to 2,600 square feet of living space. Prices will start in the high $200,000s.

Construction is expected to begin in late fall or early winter with sales beginning in the fall.