Lennar Corporation is a

home construction Home construction or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside th ...

company based in the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

of Fontainebleau,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, with a Miami postal address. In 2021, the company was the second-largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes sold. In 2021, the company was ranked 129th on the Fortune 500. The company operates in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. It also has investments in multifamily and single family residential rental properties and investments in property technology companies. The name Lennar is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsLeonard M. Miller School of Medicine Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) is the University of Miami's graduate medical school in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1952, it is the oldest medical school in the state of Florida. Campus The University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller Sch ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

), a 23-year-old entrepreneur that owned 42 lots in

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

, invested $10,000 and partnered with the company. In 1969, the company reached an equity base of $1 million, and by 1971, Miller and Rosen changed the name to Lennar Corporation. That year the firm became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

, raising $8.7 million. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. In 1973, the company acquired Mastercraft Homes, based in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, for approximately $2 million, as well as the Womack Development Company. Shortly thereafter, the company established operations in the midwestern United States by purchasing Bert L. Smokler & Company, based in Detroit, Michigan, and Dreyfus Interstate Development Corp., based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1984, the company acquired H. Miller & Sons for $24 million. In January 1989, the company acquired Richmond American Homes of Florida for $18 million. In February 1992, the company acquired Amerifirst's $1 billion real estate portfolio in a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

. In October 1992, following Hurricane Andrew, the company faced several lawsuits from homeowners alleging careless building quality. In July 1993, the company formed a joint venture with

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

and

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

to acquire a $2 billion face-value loan portfolio from

for $1.1 billion. In 1995, the company acquired

Friendswood Development Company Friendswood Development Company is a real estate development company operating in Greater Houston. The company is a subsidiary of Lennar. The company is best known for developing Kingwood, a 15,000-acre master-planned community northeast of Hou ...

from Exxon, and acquired California company Bramalea. In 1996, the company acquired Winncrest Homes. The company also acquired acres in and took over management of

Coto de Caza, California Coto de Caza (Spanish for "Hunting Reserve") is a census-designated place (CDP) and guard-gated private community in Orange County, California. The population was 14,799 at the 2017 census. The CDP is a suburban planned community of about 4,000 ...

, a

and a gated community, from Chevron Corporation. In 1997, Stuart Miller, the son of co-founder Leonard Miller, became CEO of the company. Leonard Miller died in 2002. In 1997, the company acquired West Venture Homes. In 2002, the company merged with Pacific Greystone, and acquired Theyst Venture Homes, 2700 homes in the North Natomas Community, and 800 San Diego homesites. In 1998, the company acquired North American Title Company, Winncrest Homes, Polygon, and ColRich Communities. The company also acquired 3 closely held home

construction companies Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and co ...

operating in California for $370 million. The following year the company acquired Eagle Home Mortgage and Souththeyst Land Title.

2000-present

In 2000, the company acquired U.S. Home Corporation for $476 million in cash and stock, which resulted in the company doubling in size. In 2001, the company acquired home building operations from

Fortress Investment Group Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. Fortress was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone. When Fortress launched on the NYSE in February 200 ...

. In 2002, the company acquired Patriot Homes based in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

, Barry Andrews Homes in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as Don Galloway Homes, The Genesee Company, Cambridge Homes, and Sunstar Communities. It also acquired Concord Homes and Summit Homes, both based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The company then acquired on

Mare Island Mare Island ( Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the ...

, in a closed Navy base, for redevelopment. In 2003, Lennar acquired Coleman Homes. In 2004, the company acquired

Newhall Land and Farming Company

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro for redevelopment. In 2006, Lennar spun off its commercial servicing division, LNR Property Corporation, which was acquired by Starwood Capital Group in 2012. In November 2006, Lennar chairman Robert J. Strudler died. In December 2007, during the subprime mortgage crisis, the company sold an 80% interest in 11,000 properties for 40% of their previously stated book value to

. In 2007, Lennar founded Rialto Capital Management, which was originated to acquire distressed real estate and mortgage debt. In 2008–2009, former businessman and convicted felon

Barry Minkow Barry Jay Minkow (born March 22, 1966) is a former American businessman, pastor, and convicted felon. While still in high school, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best (pronounced "Zee Best"), which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and ...

engaged in an extortion scheme, spreading false information about the company that resulted in its stock price falling 26% in one day. Minkow was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was ordered to pay $584 million in restitution. San Diego real estate developer Nicolas Marsch III hired Minkow to back his claims that Lennar cheated Marsch out of millions of dollars on a private golf community. After a trial, a Superior Court judge decided in July 2010 that Marsch actually owed Lennar $17 million for the development. A subsequent civil suit filed by Lennar against Marsch resulted in a $1 billion judgement in December 2013 for Lennar, $802 million in damages and $200 million in punitive damages. In February 2017, the company acquired WCI Communities, which operated in Florida, for $643 million. In February 2018, the company acquired

CalAtlantic Homes CalAtlantic Group, Inc. was a home construction company based in Arlington, Virginia. In 2018, it was the 4th largest homebuilder in the United States by number of homes closed. It was formed by the October 2015 merger of Standard Pacific Homes a ...

References

External links

* {{authority control 1954 establishments in Florida 1970s initial public offerings American companies established in 1954 Companies based in Miami Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1954 Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Home builders Real estate companies established in 1954 Real estate companies of the United States