Plantation to get 271 luxury rentals

Lennar Corporation plans to build a 271-unit luxury apartment building in Plantation’s burgeoning Midtown District.

Meanwhile, the Miamibased developer’s stock price was buoyed on Tuesday by a rosier-than-expected third-quarter earnings report.

The luxury building, to be developed by the company’s Multifamily Communities division, will occupy a 5.1-acre site at the Lakeside Office Center, 600 N. Pine Island Road.

The project footprint will include a portion of the office center’s existing surface parking lot and Lennar will build a parking garage to accommodate both office center tenants and residents of the new rental community, Thomas Godart, managing director of Godart Florida Real Estate Investments, said in a news release.

Groundbreaking on the project will take place by early 2018 and will take about 18 months, Godart said.

Lennar’s stock price on Tuesday closed up 4.8 percent, to $55.35, after the company reported net earnings for the third quarter were up $13.4 million, or 5.7 percent, compared to the same quarter of 2016.

New home orders were up 8 percent while revenues were up 15 percent year over year. Deliveries of new homes were up 12 percent.

Lennar CEO Stuart Miller attributed the improvements to strong demand, low unemployment, favorable interest rates and increased consumer confidence, which he said “are all signs of a very healthy homebuilding market.”

rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com