Pulte Buys Plantation Site for Townhouse Development
PulteGroup’s Andrew Maxey and renderings of the project online (PulteGroup, LinkedIn, Getty)
PulteGroup, the nation’s third-largest home builder, closed on a development site in Plantation for an 86-townhouse project dubbed Emory.
The Atlanta-based builder paid $6.9 million for 6.7 acres at 777 American Express Way from affiliates of Miami-based TM Real Estate Group, according to Andrew Maxey, PulteGroup’s vice president of land acquisition.
TM Real Estate is developing a 25-acre mixed-use project known as Plantation Midtown Square at a site that once housed American Express’ offices. Midtown Square includes plans for 21,500 square feet of retail space and more than 600 residential units. With this acquisition, Pulte will take over the townhouse component of the project, and TM Real Estate will construct 480 rental units in mid-rise apartment buildings.
Emory townhomes are set to hit the market early next year, starting at $400,000, or close to the $410,000 median home price for Broward County reported by Redfin. Maxey anticipates that the townhomes will sell for more, despite the slowdown in South Florida’s residential market.
“We still see housing fundamentals as very strong in South Florida,” he said. “These are going to start in the high [400,000s], more than likely they’ll transact in the [$500,000s],” he said.
The land purchase brings Pulte to 385 acres in Broward County, spread across six different projects, including Enclaves at Woodmont, Parkview at Hillcrest, Oak Tree, Cassia Estates and Cassia Commons. Maxey said that land scarcity has driven Pulte toward redevelopment projects.
“There’s no redevelopment opportunities in [Miami and Palm Beach],” Maxey said. “Redevelopment — it’s going to be one of the best ways to produce new housing.”
In addition to the Broward projects, Pulte is pursuing a project in Palm Beach Gardens. In March of last year the developer paid $13.7 million for 98 lots for Avondale at Avenir, with plans to build 390 single-family homes.
In Plantation, the city council recently approved a rezoning that allows Miami-based Lennar to build a 40-single-family development, called Enclave at Plantation. Lennar originally proposed a 111-townhouse development on the site, but did not get the support of the Plantation Planning and Zoning Board for the project.
