Lennar and Starwood Land Ventures Completes Strategic Deal on Prime Homesites Across Florida

MIAMI, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN and LEN.B) – In a deal between one of the nation's largest homebuilders and one of the nation's premier real estate investment firms, Lennar Corporation announced today that it has closed a deal with Starwood Land Ventures LLC to acquire or option more than 2,700 homesites in 38 communities across Florida. These land holdings constitute one of the most desirable real estate portfolios to come to market in years.

The homesites are part of the extensive Florida holdings formerly held by TOUSA Inc. that Starwood acquired at auction in late January. The Florida homesites are located in first-time homebuyer, master planned, active adult and premier golf course communities in the Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Southeast Florida markets where Miami-based Lennar plans to build single-family homes, townhomes and garden villas priced from the low $100,000s.

"We are very pleased to work with Starwood on this transaction and we view this deal as a major step forward for Lennar's growth in the State of Florida," said Fred Rothman, Regional President for Lennar. "These new communities will complement our existing operations. We have great designs and floor plans in place for each of the communities and our team is ready to build beautiful new homes at great prices that will appeal to savvy buyers."  

Mike Moser, East Region President of Bradenton-based Starwood, said "Starwood chose Lennar as its preferred Florida homebuilder because of Lennar's proven track record for performance and quality."

"Lennar is one of the nation's premier homebuilders and we trusted their ability to help us maximize our return on investment," Moser said. "Lennar's geographic diversity and depth of operations throughout Florida was aligned perfectly with the portfolio we purchased in the bankruptcy auction."

Jim Bavouset, Lennar's Regional Vice President for Acquisitions, said "Lennar was pleased to work with Starwood on the transaction as their position and expertise in the residential real-estate market had made the firm one of Florida's most prominent real estate investors."

"Lennar's unwavering commitment to the State of Florida is enhanced by Starwood's market-changing acquisition," Bavouset said. "We are excited to continue to grow our business in Florida and look forward to a long relationship between all the Starwood and Lennar associates whose hard work brought this transaction together."

Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation's leading builders of quality homes for all generations. The Company builds affordable, move-up and retirement homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Lennar's Financial Services segment provides primarily mortgage financing, title insurance and closing services for both buyers of the Company's homes and others. Previous press releases and further information about the Company may be obtained at the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website, www.lennar.com.

Starwood Land Ventures, LLC is a Bradenton, FL, based residential real estate investment firm focused on land acquisition, development and financing nationwide. The firm is primarily funded by an affiliate of Greenwich, Conn. based Starwood Capital Group Global, a privately held international real estate investment firm founded in 1991. Starwood Land partners with builders, developers, lenders and landholders and provides creative solutions to recapitalize assets with both debt and equity. The firm also purchases debt and specializes in the acquisition, entitlement and development of large, master-planned communities, which may include mixed-use components. Through its platform of partnerships with leading development firms across the country, Starwood Land and its experienced team aim to be the capital partners of choice to land owners, developers and builders. For more information about Starwood Land, visit www.starwoodland.com.

Starwood Capital Group is a private, U.S.-based investment firm with a core focus on global real estate.  Since the group's inception in 1991, the firm, through its various funds has invested more than $6 billion of equity capital, representing $21 billion in assets. Starwood currently has approximately $13 billion of assets under management.  Starwood maintains offices in Greenwich, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Mumbai and Tokyo. Starwood has invested in nearly every class of real estate on a global basis including office, retail, residential, senior housing, golf, hotels, resorts and industrial assets. Starwood and its affiliates have successfully executed an investment strategy that includes building enterprises around core real estate portfolios in both the private and public markets. For more information about Starwood Capital Group, visit www.starwoodcapital.com.

Some of the statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements include statements regarding our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, strategies and prospects.  You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters.  Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results.  Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.  Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements.  These factors include those described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended November 30, 2009.  We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by Federal securities laws.

SOURCE Lennar Corporation