An out-of-state builder has scooped up one of the largest undeveloped parcels inside Interstate 540’s Outer Loop in Wake County.

Arizona-based Meritage Homes has purchased 93 acres of mostly forested land at 6515 Buffaloe Road in Northeast Raleigh, according to Wake County records.

The assemblage is permitted for 641 homesites. It’s also part of Buffaloe Reserve, a new 212-acre master-planned community at the northwest corner of Buffaloe Road and Interstate 540, just a 20-minute drive to downtown Raleigh.

The sellers, Suncrest, acquired the entire property — including some 2,000 feet along the Neuse River — for $12 million in 2022, The Triangle Business Journal first reported. It’s zoned for up to 1,100 single-family homes and multi-family units.

Suncrest, with JPM South and Timmons Group, said it has spent the last two years working with the city of Raleigh’s planning and engineering departments to secure final approvals.

It’s expected to break ground in late 2024, according to its website. Planned amenities include a clubhouse and pool.

Apart from the sale to Meritage, Suncrest said it will retain the project’s remaining 18 acres, currently zoned for multi-family residences, and reposition it for sale or development “over the next 24 months.”

“Whether it is rezoned to another use, the market will determine,” Suncrest’s director of land development Mark McAuley said in a release.

Meritage is among a handful of out-of-state developers to become active in North Carolina in recent years, buying up large swaths of land as the state’s growth surges.

In the Raleigh metro alone, it has 10 communities with 30 “move-in” homes currently available in cities like Angier, Garner, Graham, Haw River and Mebane.

It is unclear what the price point will be for its homes in Buffaloe Reserve. Meritage declined to comment for this story.

In Garner, its community, Oak Manor, offers three two-story floor plans ranging from 2,702 to 3,252 square feet. Prices start at $504,000.