Nov. 23—ROCHESTER — Lennar, a top U.S. home builder, is laying the foundation for its three Rochester developments by paying $4.24 million for land.
Florida-based Lennar, which has been the top home builder in Minnesota for the past 18 years, recently announced that it is setting up shop in Rochester for the first time.
Lennar is marketing new home construction in three established Rochester housing developments — The Ponds of Highland Hills, Hadley Hills and Essex Estates.
Home buyers can choose two-story homes with a variety of layouts with four to six bedrooms, two to five baths and three-car garages. Pricing ranges from $500,000 to $600,000 due to the cost factors of the sites.
In recent weeks, Lennar has been on a land-buying spree in Rochester.
Lennar paid $3.14 million on Nov. 12 for 33 parcels of land along Noble Drive Northwest and Queens Drive Northwest in the Ponds of Highland Hills development area.
The Highland Hills land was purchased under the name of Millrose Properties Minnesota, LLC. Noble Development, LLC. of Rochester sold the land.
Lennar is selling new construction home models in the Highland Hills.
On Nov. 5, Lennar purchased 11 parcels along Londonderry Lane Northwest and Milbourne Lane Northwest in Essex Estates for $1.3 million. The seller was Rochester's Essex Estates Properties, LLC.
At the start of this Rochester campaign, Lennar paid $973,800 for nine parcels along Hadley Hills Drive Northwest in development by the Hadley Hills Development by the Hadley Creek Golf Course.
Under the name of US Home LLC, Lennar bought the Hadley Hills lots from Farmland LLC of Rochester.
Lennar Minnesota Division President Bill Burgess explained the Rochester projects in September.
"We've always looked at the Rochester market over the years and, for various reasons, I think builders have held off going down there. What we recognized with the Mayo Clinic's ($5 billion "Unbound") investment, just how under-built the market seems to be," said. "It's really underserved at a lot of price points. ... We think we can come down there and start with buying communities or stepping into communities that have finished home sites to introduce ourselves."