Prolific homebuilder plots Tampa expansion

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Neal Communities, the largest locally owned homebuilder in the Manatee-Sarasota region, plans to expand north to Hillsborough County in 2014.

The projected geographic growth comes off a stellar 2013, when the Lakewood Ranch-based firm sold 826 new homes — a sales volume increase of 35% over 2012. The firm, which Pat Neal co-founded in 1970 with his father, Paul Neal Jr., also expanded south last year, when it began to build homes in Lee and Collier counties. The company now builds homes in 16 Gulf Coast communities.

The growth to Tampa is part of an overall expansion strategy, according to a release. Plans include nearly a dozen new neighborhood openings throughout 2014. “Our business plan has us doubling in size over the next five years,” Neal Communities President of Building Michael Storey says in the release, “and if the market provides us that opportunity we're going to seize it.