Builder keeps building on momentum

The New Year is off to a smashing start at Neal Communities — already one of the bellwether homebuilders in the region.

“We have a demographic boom superimposed on top of an economic boom,” says Pat Neal, president and CEO of the Lakewood Ranch-based company. “There has been a huge release of pent up demand. We expect a very strong winter/spring season for 2013.”

The details of the growth back up Neal's optimism. Recent triumphs at the company include:
• The Sarasota County Commission recently approved a zoning change for nearly 25 acres in Englewood, in south Sarasota County, for a 75-home project the company is planning. The project, on State Road 776, south of Stoner Road, is called Keyway Place.
• The firm set a monthly sales record in January with 71 new home sales. The tally, further, bested the company's sales projections by more than a dozen. The sales were spread out through 12 communities, from north Manatee County to south Sarasota County.
• The firm is officially in its new headquarters on the Sarasota County side of Lakewood Ranch. It was previously in an 8,600-square-foot office in Manatee County, near the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.