Building Success: A Year in Review
How 2023 was full of milestones and momentum for our Metro communities.
Located at Mirada, the largest human-made Lagoon in the country is a focal point of the master planned community.
Over the past year, Metro Development Group has not only grown but thrived, marking significant milestones from opening the country’s largest human-made Lagoon in the country to expanding its workforce.
We have embraced forward-thinking enhancements to the Metro Lifestyle, from launching new community developments and amenities to organizing memorable events and supporting educational opportunities for residents at each master-planned community.
Despite pressure on the housing industry from higher mortgage interest rates and a cooling national market, our Florida communities continue to flourish and attract new buyers from around the nation.
We’ve fine-tuned our unique recipe for successful master-planned communities. Our strong builder partners, top-tier amenities, and dynamic community programs are just some examples of how we exceed the expectations of our buyers. With access to exceptional educational opportunities, including our own schools in some areas, we’ve created communities that address homebuyers’ key desires by crafting a diverse and well-balanced destination that offers an attainable coastal lifestyle for our residents.
Community performance was at the forefront of our growth
Each of our major Florida master-planned communities in Tampa Bay – Epperson, Mirada, Southshore Bay, and Angeline – have continued to see strong demand for new construction homes, as overall new home inventory across the country has tightened. In 2023 alone, we celebrated the sale of over 1,800 new homes, marking a significant success for our master-planned communities.
We saw an increase in new home sales across our Tampa area communities in 2023 totaling 1,871, compared to 1,625 new home sales during the previous year. Last year, net home sales across the board were up with 703 at Mirada, 454 at Epperson, 367 at Angeline, and 347 at Southshore Bay.
Our home sales performance resulted in two of our Pasco County communities – Mirada and Epperson – ranking among the 50 top-selling master-planned communities in the country by real estate consulting firms RCLCO and John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
New community amenities opened for our residents
An increase in home sales and national rankings is the result of the hard work we’ve put into the experience of living in a Metro master-planned community. This includes bringing unique amenities to residents to cultivate a self-contained oasis within the Florida community.
Our master-planned communities are anything but cookie-cutter. Our most notable standout amenity, a Lagoon by MetroLagoons, was showcased nationwide with the opening of the largest human-made Lagoon in the country at Mirada last year. This resort-style amenity is the centerpiece of Mirada with over 15 acres of crystal-clear water at the center of the 2,000-acre community in Pasco County, Florida.
Homeowners and locals have access to the Lagoon and many other community amenities and benefits. Our Tampa communities also offer miles of natural trails for biking, walking, and hiking, tot lot playgrounds for families and children to play, dog parks, and acres of nature to explore all pulled together with beautiful landscaping throughout the neighborhood.
We’ve also proved its forward-thinking around meaningful and innovative amenities in 2023 with the introduction of a completely new concept in the Tampa Bay region. In May, we announced the first residential farm amenity in the region, located within the innovative city-in-the-making Angeline. The 2.5-acre farm is intended to serve as a food supplier for an in-community café and an educational source for residents and schools. The Farm, Wild Thyme Café, and Welcome Center will open to the public this spring 2024!
Diverse community events and social lifestyle activities filled our calendar
In 2023, residential amenities were a major draw in driving new home sales and showcasing the active lifestyle residents want in our master-planned communities.
While each Lagoon community offers different activities and amenities, they all feature fun and unique ways to bring the community together. From movies on the turf (on the Lagoon shore) to trivia nights where friends and family are pitted against each other for prizes, and live local music there’s an option for everyone’s interests and lifestyles.
Each community features various social activities to help keep people active and engaged in the community. In 2023, we added bird watching to the list at Angeline, creating a way for residents to get together on the walking trails and hiking trails to incorporate the outdoors into their daily lives and wellness routines.
Innovative and educational advancements open to our neighbors
Part of living in a master-planned community is the educational opportunity. With the Angeline Academy of Innovation, we put quality education first. This STEM magnet school located in the heart of Angeline opened its doors last fall, bringing AI and technology innovation to the developing young minds of Pasco County. The Academy’s focus on fundamental engineering concepts, the engineering design process, and industrial robotic programming is another part of the innovative lifestyle that living at Angeline offers.
Innovation Preparatory Academy (InPrep) similarly brings educational advancement opportunities to our Epperson residents providing students a place to learn with a sense of exploration and the ability to discover the impossible. This dynamic academy was also developed to be part of our growing master-planned community.
Our team grew with a strong new leader
As we continue to expand, the strength and growth of our team remains a top priority. Recognizing the need for robust leadership to maintain our momentum, we’ve welcomed a new marketing leader with proven success in the region.
Lisa Gibbings, a notable marketing professional with a track record of success joined Metro Development Group as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications.
She quickly became an integral part of our vision for the coming year. Her expertise and leadership have already begun to significantly impact the family of Metro Development Group brands.
With Lisa’s arrival, we’ve nearly doubled our workforce, strengthening our capacity to meet our ambitious growth plans for the coming years. Her addition to our team represents not just an increase in numbers, but a boost in talent, experience, and innovative thinking.
She’s a key part of our mission to create thriving master-planned communities and redefine the way people live in Tampa Bay. With Gibbings at the helm of our marketing and communications efforts, we’re confident that 2024 is going supply another year marked by growth and success.
Looking ahead and fostering a healthy community lifestyle
We believe new home sales are key to Florida’s growth, which gives us a lot of opportunity to contribute to our state’s long-term future success. Here at Metro, we are excited about what the future holds and have big plans for 2024.
As the need for single-family homes, built-to-rent units, and multi-generational homes continues to rise, we’re excited to have our builder partners on our team.
This includes some of the top in the country such as Lennar and D.R. Horton, which remained consistent in attracting buyers. We are also adding new builders such as Dream Finders Homes, who entered the Tampa Bay market for the first time through our upcoming Seaire community in Manatee County.
Our home builders work with us to develop the best residential neighborhoods and offer housing types that meet the demand of the market. They also continue to provide offers and incentives to help buyers secure their new homes despite market challenges. We’re excited to continue to work together with our many builders on new communities coming in 2024.
We are planning to be an even stronger part of the housing market here in Florida, despite mortgage rates, with innovative built-to-rent units helping to meet growing demand in the rental market, attractive multigenerational homes to house multiple generations comfortably under one roof, and thoughtfully designed single-family homes coming together to create better neighborhoods and a close-knit community that is built just for you.
As we celebrate these remarkable achievements of the past year, let’s also look ahead with excitement, anticipation, and confidence for the beginning of another groundbreaking year ahead maintaining and exceeding our reputation of creating top-selling master-planned communities.
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