Neal Communities buys Sarasota tract for $21.55 million

Prolific regional home builder Neal Communities has acquired a 450-acre tract from a Canadian firm for $21.55 million, where it could build up to 900 residences and a commercial project totaling 100,000 square feet.

Neal acquired the site from affiliates of Lindvest, a Toronto-based residential builder and real estate developer.

Lindvest was represented in the transaction by LSI Cos.’ Chief Operating Officer and Director of Sales Justin Thibaut, CEO Randy Thibaut and Senior Analyst and Broker Doug Meschko.

Lindvest decided to sell the property in 2015 for $32.5 million to focus its energies on its Canadian projects. The Sarasota County site, at Fruitville Road and Lorraine Road, near the Lakewood Ranch Golf & Country Club, was its only U.S. holding.

The sale comes in the wake of the successful extension last year of Lorraine Road by Lakewood Ranch master developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., connecting the 31,000-acre master planned community that straddles Sarasota and Manatee counties better to Sarasota roadways. The roadway extension is expected to spur other sales and open up both residential and commercial developments in the area.

Neal Communities’ new site, which is expected to contain a mix of multifamily units and single-family homes, is roughly 3.5 miles from Interstate 75.

And while Neal Communities’ purchase involves a sizeable tract of land, the site isn’t the only massive property on the market in that area.

A pair of property owners also is working to sell Indian Creek, a 1,940-acre property on Fruitville Road eight miles east of Interstate 75, for $60 million.