ROYAL PALM EX-WATER PLANT SITE GETS HOMES

Groundbreaking held for ‘connected home’ development.

New homes soon will rise from the ground where Royal Palm Beach’s water treatment plant once stood. The 385-home BellaSera development by Lennar will be the largest of its kind in the village since PortoSol was built, Mayor Fred Pinto

said. He and other Royal Palm Beach council members attended a ribbon-cutting

and groundbreaking Thurs- day with Lennar and Central

Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce officials.

“As a vil l age, we took our time in having this

happen,” Pinto said of the wait between bulldozing the water treatment plant in 2009 and sealing the deal in 2015. Lennar paid the village $35 million for the 154acre property off Crestwood Boulevard just west of H.L. Johnson Elementary School.

The money went to pay off the village’s debts, including the bond issue used to build Commons Park, Pinto said.

“That was part of our longterm strategy,” Pinto said. “... It was a series of intelligent business decisions that we made over a period of time that put us on the path to where we are now.”

Every house in BellaSera will be one of Lennar’s Connected Homes, where technology is built into the house. That includes Wi-Fi certifica- tion, a first-of-its-kind design approved by the Wi-Fi Alli

ance. That means no Wi-Fi dead spots in the house, said Lennar Palm Atlantic Division President Dan Grosswald.

“This will be our first com- pletely Wi-Fi certified community,” he said.

Homes also will include Alexa by A mazon, a voice-control system that allows residents to play music, listen to news or see who is at the front door.

“The target buyer here ... is a person that is more in tune with technology and energy efficiency,” Gross- wald said.

He added that Lennar’s partnership with Amazon — a first among homebuilders — has been a big selling point. “We can see a marked difference where that is part of the home, there is more of an interest in buying,” he said.

Home prices in BellaSera start in the low $400,000s, with base prices stretching to near $600,000. One- and two-story models are available with anywhere from three to five bedrooms, two to five-and-a-half bathrooms and two- or threecar garages.

The neighborhood will be gated and include a clubhouse with a fitness center, pool, tennis and basketball courts, and playground.

“We consider this a flagship community for us in Palm Beach County,” Grosswald said.