8. Could This Be a Stoneybrook Ending?
You have to look long and hard to find a fast-selling project in Florida, where talk of recovery still sounds to many like wishful thinking. Then comes a report that Lennar sold 20 homes in a month and a half at Stoneybrook at Venice Manors, a four-year-old gated community near Bradenton-Sarasota, Fla. How could this happen?
A new, lower pricing structure partly explains the success. When Stoneybrook At Venice first opened in late 2004, you practically had to win the lottery to buy a home. Prices escalated during the housing boom to the point where buyers may have paid $200,000 more than they would today for similar square footage.
Lennar has taken some heat for lowering prices in this 900-home master-planned community. But now it has stimulated activity and some local buzz by offering a three-bedroom home at Stoneybrook At Venice Manors for as little as $244,900. And it gets you access to the kind of country club amenities for which you’d usually have to pay much more.
Matt Devereaux, director of sales for Lennar in Southwest Florida, believes the lifestyle here, which you’d usually have to go to an active adult community to find, has a lot to do with the project’s success. “We have … all the amenities of a luxury island resort,” he says.
Indeed, this would be a great place to live whether you’re an adult or a kid. The community center includes a resort-style swimming pool, a kid’s splash pool, and an in-line skating park. For grown-ups, there’s a health club with an on-site activity director and four lighted tennis courts. For kids of all ages, there’s a basketball court, two sand volleyball courts, and a multi-purpose sports field.
The community is also about three miles from some of the best beaches in Florida.
Project Name: Stoneybrook at Venice Manors
Location: Venice, Fla.
Developer/Builder: Lennar
Rate of Sale: 20 since June
Price Range: From $244,900 to $349,900
Product Type: Single-family