Lennar

Lennar is a home building company providing new home construction and buying services in various states. Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is headquartered in Miami, Florida and is one of the nation’s leading builders of quality homes for all generations. Lennar builds affordable, move-up and retirement homes in Communities that cater to almost any lifestyle – such as urban, golf course, Active Adult or suburban Communities.

1954: The Lennar story begins in Florida in 1954.

1956: Shortly after the creation of F&R, an individual who would figure prominently in Lennar's development moved to Florida, intent on utilizing his land development and marketing skills. Leonard Miller (who would later become the namesake of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine), a 23-year-old entrepreneur that owned 42 lots in Miami-Dade County, Florida, invested $10,000 and partnered with the company.

1959: F&R Builders becomes the first homebuilder in South Florida to give paid vacations to hourly Associates, including field labourers and maintenance workers.

1969: For the express intention of achieving this objective, Lennar Corporation was formed in 1969, with F&R Builders constituting its primary asset. &R’s equity base reaches 1 million dollars. As well, F&R Builders acquires its first commercial property in Miami Beach, Florida.

1971: Lennar completed its underwriting and became a public company when stock in the company was sold over the counter. Lennar becomes the top Dade County homebuilder with revenues of 11 million dollars. Leonard and Arnold combine their names to rename the company LENNAR. 

1972: Lennar enters the Arizona homebuilding market in Phoenix, with the acquisition of Womack Development Corp. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange the year.

1973: Lennar establishes an Asset Management division.

1976: Lennar opens its first Active Adult Community: Kings Point in Delray Beach, Florida.

1977: Lennar co-founder Arnold Rosen retires, and continues to serve as a director. The company acquired Mastercraft Homes, based in Phoenix, Arizona, for approximately $2 million, as well as the Womack Development Company.

1978: The following year, revenues soared 60 percent, reaching $133 million, and earnings doubled to over $7 million.

1979: Lennar celebrates its 25th anniversary with 36,000 homeowners.

1981: Lennar diversified further, entering the home mortgage business and originating what would later become Lennar Financial Services, Inc. In response to the S & L crisis, Lennar expands its mortgage financing business with UAMC Universal American Mortgage Company (UAMC); this is the beginning of Lennar Financial Services.

1982: The company purchased H. Miller & Sons, Inc., for $24 million.

1984: Lennar expands in Palm Beach County, Florida, with the acquisition of H. Miller & Sons.

1986: Lennar acquires its largest competitor, DCA Homes, and becomes Florida’s largest homebuilder.

1987: Lennar reorganized its financial services operations into Lennar Financial Services, Inc., the product of its entry into the home mortgage business six years earlier.

1989: Lennar acquires Richmond American Homes in Orlando and Tampa, Florida. The company introduces the “Everything’s Included” marketing platform; homes include thousands of dollars in extras at no extra charge. This placed extra options on built homes as a part of the lump sum charged for the property in its entirety.

1991: Lennar entered the Texas market, after four years of experimentation, and began construction in suburban Dallas. Lennar acquires AmeriStar Financial Corporation, expanding mortgage services into California.

1992: In a joint venture with Morgan Stanley, Lennar acquires a 1 billion dollar Amerifirst real estate portfolio In 1992, following Hurricane Andrew, the company faced several lawsuits from homeowners alleging careless building quality.

1993: These two acquisitions, concluded in the two years prior to 1993, gave Lennar an interest in real estate management assets valued at more than $4 billion, complementing an already solid combination of business interests that provided an enviable foundation for the company's future.

1994: Lennar begins the tradition of Associates reciting “The Little Red Hen” poem from memory. Lennar’s equity base tops 500 million dollars.

1995: Lennar acquires Village Builders and Friendswood Development Company in Houston from Exxon.

1997: Lennar completes a spin-off to its shareholders of commercial and real estate investment and management business, which is named LNR Property Corporation. Lennar becomes the master developer of the billion-dollar, 5,000-acre Mare Island Navy Base, a partnership with the City of Vallejo. Stuart Miller, the son of co-founder Leonard Miller, also took over the company.

1998: Lennar acquires Winncrest Homes, ColRich Communities and Polygon.

2002: Leonard Miller died.

2007: In December, during the subprime mortgage crisis, the company sold an 80% interest in 11,000 properties for 40% of their previously stated book value to Morgan Stanley. Lennar also founded Rialto Capital Management, which originated to acquire distressed real estate and mortgage debt.

2010: After a trial, a Superior Court judge decided in July that Marsch actually owed Lennar $17 million for the development.

2011: Founded this year, LMC offers rental apartment communities nationwide for those who are not yet ready to buy a home.

2013: A subsequent civil suit filed by Lennar against Marsch resulted in a $1 billion judgement in December for Lennar, $802 million in damages and $200 million in punitive damages. This same year, Lennar Commercial Investors was founded in order for Lennar to enter the commercial real estate market.

2018: In February, the company acquired CalAtlantic Homes. In May, Lennar announced that Amazon's Alexa will be included in all of the 35,000 new homes built this year.

“The mission of our Focused Acts of Caring is to help people learn to help themselves by building bridges to a productive life.”

“We work to maximize the quality of our building materials, lower costs to deliver greater value, and observe internal quality assurance programs and external third-party inspection processes to guarantee the quality of every new home. We deliver exceptional value through industry-leading incentives.”