Housing community seeks buyers looking to upgrade
Standard Pacific Homes is increasing its presence in Palm Beach County with plans to launch sales Sept. 12 for a 288-home community near Boynton Beach.
Palm Meadows is planned for 170 acres west of Florida’s Turnpike on Lyons Road, north of Boynton Beach Boulevard.
Homes will have three to six bedrooms. The price range: the mid-$500,000s to more than $1 million.
The first buyers who sign contracts are expected to move in by late 2016.
Longtime South Florida housing consultant Lewis Goodkin said there are no sure things in the homebuilding industry, but he doesn’t think Standard Pacific will have any trouble finding buyers.
Goodkin said pent-up demand from existing owners looking to buy bigger homes should lead to robust sales at Palm Meadows.
“I think the market is right for what they’re doing,” he said.
While analysts and buyers are pushing for more affordable housing projects across South Florida, land and labor shortages often force builders to design higher-end homes, Goodkin said.
The Palm Meadows site is in an area dominated by GL Homes, Palm Beach County’s most active builder.
Sunrise-based GL has a handful of communities along Lyons Road, including Valencia Cove, a 55-and-over development that is nearing sellout. Farther south along Lyons, GL has The Bridges and Seven Bridges.
“People who are interested in GL communities will be interested in talking to us as well,” said Dan Grosswald, South Florida president for Standard Pacific.
Even with the addition of the Irvine, Calif-based builder to the mix, there is little competition in that southwestern Palm Beach County corridor, said David Cobb, regional director of the Metrostudy research firm.
“Is there room for Standard Pacific? The answer is yes,” he said.
Palm Meadows is the builder’s third single-family development in Palm Beach County after Prado in Jupiter and The Oaks in Boca Raton.
In Broward, Standard Pacific is building single-family homes and townhomes at Raintree in Pembroke Pines, townhomes at The Cove in Plantation and singlefamily homes at Watercrest at Parkland. The 589-home Watercrest community is about half complete, Grosswald said.
Standard Pacific is set to merge this fall with Ryland Homes of Westlake Village, Calif. The combined entity will be known as CalAtlantic Group Inc.
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