- January 8, 2025
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Manatee County at-large Commissioner Jason Bearden offered the warning to developers as the calendar turned to 2025.
He said he was voting against any proposed developments in which the existing roads didn't adequately support the added capacity.
Schroeder-Manatee Ranch CEO and President Rex Jensen didn't need to pay attention.
Building infrastructure before homes always has been a way of life for SMR.
"Look at what makes this community great," Jensen said in late December. "We get ahead of the infrastructure. That will be a huge focal point for us again (in 2025). We have built 42 miles of roads to date, and we are building another 15 miles."
On Jan. 7, the real estate consulting firm RCLCO named Lakewood Ranch as the top-selling, multigenerational community in the U.S. for the seventh consecutive year. Lakewood Ranch had 2,210 new home sales in 2024
“Lakewood Ranch’s multi-generational appeal remains its defining strength, while its prime location and thoughtfully planned infrastructure offer reassurance to today’s more cautious homebuyers,” said Laura Cole, senior vice president of Lakewood Ranch, in a release.
RCLCO's Karl Pischke said Lakewood Ranch's ability to weather challenges during a volatile year was impressive.
So what is SMR's main focus for 2025? Both Jensen and Cole say building infrastructure remains No. 1.
However, building roads will take on a somewhat different look in 2025 for SMR, which begins to construct a system of 16 roundabouts to support traffic produced by new villages.
"We're doing roundabouts on Bourneside," said Jensen, who in 2023 was honored with Builder magazine's Legend Award for his contributions to the planned community sector. "We are doing roundabouts on 64. We are doing a lot of infrastructure in places where there aren't any houses yet."
The strategy of building lots of roundabouts comes from a man who for many years was famously against traffic circles. However, he has read many studies in recent years on roundabouts and also stood on major roads, such as State Road 64, watching the way roundabouts regulated the traffic.
"Before, I didn't think too much of them," Jensen said. "But I spent a lot of time watching things work.
"Now I believe that traffic circles are the way to go."
Jensen also said that it helped to build roundabouts along with new road construction and allow motorists to be familiar with the traffic calming strategy as the roadway experiences expected growth.
Jensen said he expected SMR to build at least 10 roundabouts this year with construction on more slipping over into 2026.
Although construction costs in building roundabouts have almost doubled in the last five years, he said the investment is worth it for Lakewood Ranch.
"Who else does it?" he said of investing so much in infrastructure before homes are built. "You have Lakewood Ranch ... and you have Not Lakewood Ranch. We build out ahead of time."
Three of the roundabouts will be built on State Road 64 — at Uihlein Road, Lightwood Trail, and Bourneside Road. Then in northern Lakewood Ranch on Bourneside Boulevard will be roundabouts at Saddlestone, 44th Avenue, and Rangeland. Moving to the south, a roundabout will be built at Bourneside Boulevard and University Parkway.
Then as Bourneside Boulevard is extended to Fruitville Road to the south, seven additional roundabouts will be built. Those roundabouts will be part of the infrastructure being put into place to support the planned Lakewood Ranch Southeast expansion.
Although the Sarasota County Planning Commission already has recommended approval for one phase of the Lakewood Ranch Southeast project, the rezone for the development is still being contested in court. Jensen said he is confident the suit will be cleared early this year so construction can begin.
SMR also will be building two additional roundabouts at University Parkway and Deer Drive, and University Parkway and Covenant Way.
A partnership with Manatee County will lead to a roundabout at Masters Avenue and Bourneside Boulevard.
Then comes the additional 15 miles of roadway as well. It will be a huge effort in 2025.
Among the projects are the completion of Bourneside Boulevard from State Road 64 to the north, all the way south through to Fruitville Road. A new extension of University Parkway would go east from Lorraine Road to Bourneside Boulevard. Extensions of 44th Avenue East and Rangeland Parkway will go from Bourneside Boulevard east through new planned neighborhoods.
Cole noted that SMR has other areas that will demand focus in 2025.
Five Lakewood Ranch schools are on the combined five-year-capital plans of the Manatee and Sarasota school districts. SMR is building out its portion of the planned Gulf Coast Trail system, much of it along Bourneside Boulevard, that Manatee County plans to connect when it comes up with the funds to build its Gateway Greenway Multipurpose Trail system to link with a Gulf Coast Trail that will stretch from Hernando County to Collier County. SMR is donating its trail efforts to the county.
Cole said SMR will be taking control of programming at its two town centers that previously was run by Lakewood Ranch Community Activities.
"This is exciting," Cole said. "Main Street already has received a facelift and a new focus. We need to do our part to drive people there, and then invent reasons for people to come back."
Cole noted that Lakewood Ranch would continue to expand its diversity of home-buying options that has fueled that impressive seven-year streak of No. 1 rankings.
