Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
New builder to set up shop in S. Florida
Mattamy Homes sees opportunity
South Florida’s land shortage isn’t discouraging Mattamy Homes, one of the largest privately owned builders in North America.
Mattamy has announced plans to enter the local market, initially focusing on Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. A future expansion into Miami-Dade is possible, the company said.
Heading Mattamy’s new Southeast Florida division is Lara Swanson, formerly an executive with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Meritage Homes. Swanson helped lead Meritage’s entry into Palm Beach County with Cypress Royale, a 74-home development under construction west of Lake Worth.
“It’s no secret that land is not very abundant [in South Florida],” Swanson said Tuesday. “However, there are still plenty of opportunities, we feel.”
Because Mattamy is privately held, the company can be “more nimble and opportunistic,” she said.
Nearly all of the large land tracts in South Florida have been built on or are in the development pipeline, forcing builders to target smaller projects or teardowns of older, existing properties, industry analysts say.
Truly Burton, executive vice president of the Builders Association of South Florida, said Mattamy will have to employ creative land planners to find success here.
“That’s certainly something that we welcome,” Burton said. “I’ve talked to builders who have done beautifully designed, highdensity homes on a piece of land the size of a postage stamp.”
Swanson said the company will hire an undisclosed number of staff members for the division’s Palm Beach County headquarters.
Mattamy, with U.S. headquarters in Winter Park, was ranked No. 25 on Builder magazine’s latest list of the 100 largest builders nationwide. The company had 1,987 closings last year and generated $618 million in revenue. Its Canadian operations are based in Toronto.
Mattamy already has a strong Florida presence, with projects in Sarasota, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and Naples. It also has built in Phoenix, Tucson and Charlotte. The company builds starter, “move up” and active adult homes.