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GL Homes drops $29M on 120 acres in Westlake

Purchase signals latest planned development in Palm Beach County’s newest city

GL Homes Drops $29M on 120 Acres in Westlake
GL Homes' Misha Ezratte and the purchased land in Westlake (Google Maps, GL Homes)

GL Homes dropped $29.4 million on a 120-acre swath of farmland in Westlake, Palm Beach County’s newest municipality. 

Records show an affiliate of the Sunrise-based homebuilder bought the land between 140th Avenue North and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road from Silver Lake Enterprises, a Florida entity managed by Philomena Liu, Kin Man Tse and Ryan Liang. Liang is a former member of the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council, a seat he held for three continuous terms following his election in 2009, according to published reports. 

The development site sits just east of the single-family Minto Communities development that precipitated the incorporation of Westlake in 2016. 

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The city has grown rapidly since its inception, with Minto bolstering its budget as well as planning further development, according to published reports. Minto announced plans for a 50-acre mixed-use development with retail, restaurants, offices and industrial space in 2021. Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Property Trust sold a grocery store-anchored Westlake shopping center for $19.5 million in 2022. Kolter Homes bought a 270-acre homebuilding site from Minto for $52 million in 2019. 

Silver Lake Enterprises bought the farmland GL Homes just purchased for $4.4 million in a trio of deals in 2002 and 2003, records show. The latest sale equates to more than $245,400 per acre. The median price for homes in Westlake is $757,000, nearly $300,000 higher than the Palm Beach County home price average.

GL Homes, led by president Misha Ezratti, could not be immediately reached for comment on its plans for the Westlake site. In October, Palm Beach County denied the firm’s bid to build nearly 1,300 single-family homes in the Ag Reserve, with county commissioners calling the plan “lipstick on a pig.”

Also in Palm Beach County, GL Homes is building the 209-unit single-family home community Arden in Wellington. It dropped $28.1 million on the sites in 2022. It also paid $35.3 million for 337 home lots in the massive master-planned Avenir in Palm Beach Gardens. Prices at Apex, the planned community, start at $830,000 for single-family homes, its website shows.

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Gl HomesHomebuildersPalm Beach CountyWestlake