Local builder foresees continued growth

EAST COUNTY — Neal Communities experienced its most profitable year in the company’s history in 2013, with expansions into Collier and Lee counties and sales up 35% from 2012.

Although the goal of surpassing last year’s sales numbers is large, Neal Communities Building Division President Michael Storey sees a more successful and profitable 2014 for the company.

This year, company owner and President Pat Neal and his team anticipate selling the company’s 10,000th home; Neal also expects to sell 1,000 homes in 2014.

Neal Communities leaders hope to grow the company in the next five years by acquiring more land and looking for properties outside the company’s East County home base.

“There’s only so much you can grow in one marketplace,” Storey said. “It’s about outward expansion; you have to go to new areas to keep growing.”

Like Neal Communities is experiencing with its recent opening of a division based in Bonita Springs, entering a new market can be — and has been — a profitable venture. Storey projects Neal Communities will sell 150 homes in its Collier and Lee counties neighborhoods this year.

Neal and his team are planning another expansion, this time farther north into Hillsborough County. Construction there is expected to start in 2015.

“We have great locations for our communities,” Storey said. “When you’re acquiring land, you have to find the right land (in the right places). Pat Neal has always been exceptional at doing that, and it will help us grow further.”

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].