Lennar has changed its land banking partner for 423 homesites in the Keys Gate residential subdivision in Homestead, Florida, through a $24 million transaction. JEN Partners, based in New York and previously serving as Lennar’s land bank for these lots, sold them to another New York firm, DW Partners, according to public records. The purchase price was reported at $23.98 million.
Following the sale, Lennar ended its purchase option agreement with JEN Partners and entered into a new purchase option agreement with DW Partners that will last until 2031. The lots involved are located south of Southwest 344th Street and east of Southwest 162nd Avenue.
DW Partners is an alternative asset manager founded in 2009 by David Warren and Robert Clark.
Lennar, headquartered in Miami, is recognized as the second largest homebuilder in the United States and holds the top position in south Miami-Dade County. The company often uses land banks to secure development sites years before construction begins. This approach allows Lennar to keep land ownership costs off its balance sheet and maintain cash flow for homebuilding activities.
In addition to JEN Partners, Lennar works with other land bank partners such as Garrett Development from Scottsdale, Arizona, and TPG Angelo Gordon from New York. Earlier this year, Lennar also spun off Millrose Properties as its own publicly traded land bank.
Stuart Miller leads Lennar alongside Jon Jaffe, who is set to retire this year.
The strategy of securing sites early is particularly important for Lennar due to limited availability of buildable land in Miami-Dade County. The southern part of the county remains one of the few areas suitable for single-family and townhome developments.
Developers have been actively acquiring sites in south Miami-Dade over the past five years. According to Colliers Research, Lennar has completed nearly 70 percent of homes built in the area since 2020 and is responsible for developing about 60 percent of projects currently underway.
Within Keys Gate itself, Lennar submitted a proposal in 2022 for a project including 1,335 homes and a golf course on a 350-acre site.
Other stakeholders at Keys Gate include Mast Capital from Miami, which acquired a complex with 292 townhomes at 1140 Southeast 24th Road for $50.8 million in 2021.
Other major developers active in south Miami-Dade include D.R. Horton from Arlington, Texas—the nation’s largest homebuilder—which has proposed building a townhome complex at several addresses on Southwest Third Avenue and Seventh Street in Florida City. Terra Group from Coconut Grove plans to redevelop part of the South Dade Government Center site into a mixed-use project under Florida’s Live Local Act; initial plans call for two eight-story buildings with approximately 362 units and parking spaces at three addresses on Southwest 211th Street.
