Rivergrass by Lennar Homes, a new community of more than 1,000 homes, is taking shape off Oil Well Road in eastern Collier County, an area experiencing rapid residential growth similar to the eastern end of Corkscrew Road in Lee County.
Lennar celebrated the project’s groundbreaking Jan. 29 at 5063 Oil Well Road, where crews from Miami-based Downrite Engineering had already begun excavating retention ponds, moving dirt and preparing to install water and sewer lines and build the community’s first roads.
Construction crews and development partners gather Jan. 29 at the Rivergrass site, where Lennar is building a new master-planned community featuring townhomes, single-family homes and resort-style amenities.
“It’s a great day for Lennar and a great day for Collier County,” said Dave Meyers, division manager for Lennar Homes.
The project has been more than two decades in the making, said Pat Utter, senior vice president of real estate for Collier Enterprises, which previously owned the land.
Millrose Properties Florida LLC, an offshoot of Lennar, paid $18 million for the 545-acre site in December 2025, according to property records. Much of the land had been used to farm peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, but Utter said its value for housing eventually surpassed its agricultural use.
Excavation work is underway to form retention lakes and prepare infrastructure at Rivergrass, Lennar’s 545-acre residential development off Oil Well Road in eastern Collier County.
“We’ve been working on this for 20 years, but we never got going because of the downturn in ’07,” Utter said. Development efforts resumed about 12 years ago.
The Rivergrass site also was the subject of legal challenges by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which opposed development in the area. The environmental advocacy organization reached a settlement with the county in 2023 that led to the creation of the Rural Lands Stewardship Area.
“We’ll have 3,500 acres of development and 13,000 acres of preservation,” Utter said of the broader RLSA, located about 12 miles southeast of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. “Which is very important. Our ratio is pretty big — 13,000 to 3,500.”
Rivergrass by Lennar will comprise 545 acres of that 3,500-acre development area. The community is located about 15 miles east of Interstate 75 and 4 miles west of Ave Maria.
Plans call for townhomes and three types of single-family homes, with prices ranging from $300,000 to $700,000.
“This is going to be our newest, intergenerational community,” Meyers said. “We’re going to have a home for everybody. From townhomes all the way up to estate homes. It’s going to be a great community. Highly amenitized. Everything from pickleball to resort-style pools. Something for absolutely everybody.”
Heavy machinery moves dirt and prepares utility corridors as Lennar begins construction of Rivergrass, a planned 1,000-plus-home community in eastern Collier County.
The development will include about 8 acres of amenities, such as pickleball and tennis courts, a resort-style pool and a dog park.
Across Oil Well Road, Taylor Morrison is developing an 18-hole golf course community that will include about 1,000 homes on 450 acres.
Lennar expects to break ground soon on its model homes, which are slated for completion by July. The first residents are not expected to move in until 2027.
“As you can see, we’ve got a lot of dirt being moved,” Meyers said. “We’ve got lakes that need to be built and dug. We’ve got infrastructure from sewer and water that needs to come in. And obviously, the home sites that need to start being built. A lot’s going to happen. A transformation I’m excited for. We’re ready to get started.
“We finally get to see our dream come to fruition. It gives us the ability to make the American dream come true.”
(5) comments
Nothing for Florida to be happy about that transaction I'm sure it's too late to do anything 1,000 homes. Wrap your head around
What we need is affordable housing especially for seniors. Smaller homes that have features for older people like grab bars wide doors. There is nothing anyone is doing for this market at all. The "independent" living is way too high for those on fixed incomes. Condo's are expensive with high HOA fees and little to show for the fees. We need a small village of homes one story with back and front porches. Not a lot of land is needed but so many of us seniors have no place to go.. Young people starting out would do well with a smaller homes so they can start building equity
Someone tell me how the current infrastructure is going to handle all the traffic from these homes? Immokalee Road is already a disaster and now you're adding even more cars on the road?!! Stop taking the Florida out of Florida!
In Miami to much traffic I missed that 80 around here good luck
Hope the county is making the developer pay for all infrastructure and roads otherwise taxpayers will be paying for it.
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