NORTH PORT – Canada’s largest home builder plans to team up with a Sarasota developer and land buyer to construct more than 11,000 homes in South County.
Mattamy Homes plans for Thomas Ranch, a 9,650-acre tract in and around North Port, come after the company paid $86.25 million to acquire the ranch.
Development is expected to begin in 2016 and span 20 to 25 years, with 700 to 2,000 homes built at a time.
The property has already been approved for more than 11,000 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space.
Vanguard Land Co., a Sarasota real estate acquisition and development firm headed by former Taylor Woodrow N.A. CEO John R. Peshkin, will be a minority partner and provide planning and direction.
“It’s very rare to find a property of this size with the comprehensive plan approvals,” Peshkin said Friday. “It’s a great location and a great market, one of if not the best tracts of land on the west coast of Florida.”
Thomas Ranch also marks the largest real estate purchase for Mattamy in its 10 years of operating in the United States.
“What was compelling about the deal was that the property has development time lines that are almost generational in length,” said Peter Gilgan, Mattamy’s founder and CEO.
“And we’re also extremely excited about the growth potential of this part of Florida — we believe that the baby boomer demographic will continue to look to Florida as a place they want to retire, and this parcel of land will serve that need exceptionally well.”
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