The New Home Company Inc. expands into Denver, Colo., with the acquisition of Epic Homes, a unique and innovative homebuilder with a strong, well-established presence in the market. Epic President and Founder Christina Presley will remain on board as President of Epic Homes, a newly formed homebuilding division of The New Home Company.
“We are thrilled to announce our expansion into the Denver market,” said Larry Webb, Executive Chairman of The New Home Company. “Denver exhibits many of the qualities we look for in a new market including excellent quality of life, a young and vibrant population, steady job growth and rising income levels. We are even more excited about bringing Chris Presley and her team at Epic Homes into The New Home Company fold, as they take a similar approach to homebuilding as we do, with a culture built around teamwork, customer satisfaction and a passion for the business.” NEW HOME assumed Epic’s backlog of 102 homes valued at approximately $100 million as of the closing date of February 26, 2021. In addition, NEW HOME assumed control of Epic’s land assets which include 294 owned and controlled lots, three active communities and one soon-to-be-opened community. The average selling price of Epic’s communities range from $600,000 to $1.4 million. Leonard Miller, President and CEO added, “With the addition of Epic Homes, The New Home Company enters a very attractive market with an established operator. Not only do our two brands align, but Chris’s proven track record, deep relationships and leadership qualities are what really stood out in making our decision to enter the Denver market. In the short-term, the transaction will provide us with an immediate boost to our revenue and earnings thanks to the homes in backlog and actively selling communities. Longer-term, we view this as a great strategic move for our company as it further diversifies our geographic presence, enhances our opportunities for growth and establishes us in a market with great homebuilding fundamentals.” “I am so excited to be joining our Epic family with the amazing team at The New Home Company,” said Presley. “The alignment of our companies’ values, vision and culture is remarkable, and will allow the Epic Homes team to continue our commitment to building homes with exceptional quality and design while upholding people and relationships as our top priority. I am sincerely grateful to our customers, homebuilding partners and incredible Epic Homes team for making Epic Homes a success, and I look forward to building upon that success together with The New Home Company.” Reported by Company Press Release For complete contact information for all business leaders The New Home Company and the other leading U.S. homebuilders including all corporate and division contacts, consult The National Builders Directory and Online Database.
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PulteGroup, Toll Brothers and Meritage Homes plan southeast expansion with eyes on projects and prospective projects in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.
PulteGroup has outlined expansion into the Triad area of North Carolina and new Del Webb communities planned in the Florida market. In the Triad area in North Carolina the company plans to begin construction this spring on a 146-lot subdivision in High Point called Falls Grove. Toll Brothers has purchased more than $35 million in land in Central Florida since December and has announced plans for more than 650 homes in four new residential communities. Meritage is looking to cluster hundreds of new homes on a 152-acre tract in Greenville, S.C. Pulte's Falls Grove community will feature single-family detached homes and townhomes on a 28-acre site. The land is in Davidson County but was annexed by High Point several years ago when another project was proposed that never went forward. Falls Grove is the first of several planned communities by Pulte in parts of the Triad that include Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Burlington. "This strategic expansion provides another avenue of growth and allows us to extend our high-returning operating model into important new housing markets," said Ryan Marshall, Pulte president and CEO. "Having made these initial investments, we see the potential to introduce our first-time, move-up and active adult brands to each of these markets in the future.” Developers got the land for Falls Grove rezoned last year to accommodate their plans. The site is adjacent to the Laurel Oak Ranch development, a 360-acre mixed residential subdivision that's also in the Davidson County part of the city. There will be 23 single-family homes priced from $240,000 and up on the northern part of the site. The southern part of the site will include 123 townhomes with prices starting at around $200,000. Pulte has a division in Raleigh, operates in more than 40 markets throughout the country. Pulte announced earlier this month it will build its third Northeast Florida Del Webb community on 226 acres in Wildlight, a master-planned 2,900-acre community in Nassau County along Florida 200 between Interstate 95 and U.S. 17. Raydient Places + Properties is the developer. Model homes are expected to open in early 2022. “We just identified Nassau County as a perfect place for active adults to retire to whether they’re Florida locals or coming in from out of state,” said Tony Nason, vice president of operations for Pulte’s North Florida division. “The proximity to Amelia Island, beaches, Jacksonville airport and everything Jacksonville has to offer just seemed like a perfect fit for our brand.” Pulte plans up to 660 single-family homes. It will offer 16 floor plans from 1,343 to 3,339 square feet. Homes prices will start in the $200,000s. Del Webb Wildlight will offer a 12,000-square-foot amenity center, two pools, tennis and pickleball courts, a dog park and more than 10 miles of walking trails. Del Webb is the largest development in Wildlight so far. Pulte has Del Webb communities in Nocatee and eTown. Both are selling homes in phase two. Nason said amenity centers in both communities are under construction and the communities have been successful. Del Webb also has communities in Naples, Orlando, Palm Beach, Tampa, Sarasota and Port St. Lucie. Pulte recently opened several communities in Northeast Florida and has plans for more growth in the area, Nason said. The Greenville site Meritage is eyeing is near Grove Elementary School south of Interstate 85, but two Greenville County Council members say that Old Grove Road needs major improvements before the development can be built. Speaking at a recent public hearing, Meritage Homes’ Greenville Division President Omar Rodriguez said changing the property's zoning from industrial to residential would create "a real opportunity to do something special here.” It is unclear precisely how many homes would be built on the tract. Paul Harrison, a civil engineer for the development, said the density would not exceed 3.6 units per acre. For complete contact information for all business leaders at Pulte, Toll Brothers, Meritage and the other leading U.S. homebuilders including all corporate and division contacts, consult The National Builders Directory and Online Database. Zom Living plans to develop five multifamily communities in Phoenix and Scottsdale, investing more than $500 million in the properties. Zom has acquired four parcels totaling 32.7 acres through an auction in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The developer expects to break ground on all five communities — which are yet to be named — in the fourth quarter of this year.
Zom Living acquired two parcels totaling 26 acres in the Desert Ridge/North Phoenix submarket of Phoenix. The two communities Zom plans to build will feature a combined 600 units along the Loop 101 Highway on 56th Street. The assets will be situated within walking distance of Desert Ridge Marketplace. In downtown Scottsdale, the developer plans to build 749 units across two communities. The assets will span 3.8 acres at the intersection of Scottsdale and Camelback roads. The property is located adjacent to the Scottsdale Fashion Square and the Scottsdale Entertainment District. In Phoenix’s Biltmore District, Zom Living plans to develop 300 units on 2.9 acres. The property is located at the intersection of Highland Avenue and 24th Street, two blocks from the Biltmore Fashion Park and eight miles northeast of downtown Phoenix. Coinciding with the new communities, Zom Living will also open a regional office in Arizona and employ a full-time team. The company has built more than 23,000 apartment units nationwide, with an aggregate development value of $4.5 billion, in its 43-year history. “Our team has been waiting for the right entry point into the Phoenix market, so we were naturally drawn to the prospect of acquiring four well-located sites that are prime for market-rate multifamily development,” says Greg West, CEO of Zom Living. “The Phoenix metro area has all the ingredients our firm looks for when entering into a new market, beginning with consistent population growth, strong demographics and a stable labor market.” For complete contact information for all business leaders at Zom Living, consult The Directory of Multifamily Builders & Developers and Online Database. Home Builders such as LGI Homes, Meritage Homes and M/I Homes continue to ride the wave of the surging home market as they acquire lots and gain approvals in some of the hottest markets including the Carolinas and Texas.
LGI plans to develop a 590-lot single-family community in Lancaster County, S.C. The company cleared a big hurdle recently as the county planning commission approved a needed rezoning request for the 278-acre site. The land is currently used for agricultural purposes. The development schedule calls for building 100 homes per year in the first five years with the final 90 homes built in year six. A start date has not yet been announced. Meritage Homes has purchased 40 acres in the Houston area where it plans to build 169 single-family homes. The community, called Central Park Square, will be built in Texas City. Homes will range in size from 1,831 s.f. to 2,991 s.f. with pricing expected to start in the mid-$200,000s. M/I Homes plans to build a 133-lot single-family community in Huntersville, N.C., in the Charlotte area. The company is in the process of gaining approvals to subdivide the 92-acre lot, with plans to start construction at the end of the year or in early 2022. The community, dubbed Cook Farm, will have lots averaging 7,835 s.f. with prices expected to be in the high $200,000s to the low $300,000s. For complete contact information for all business leaders at LGI, Meritage Homes and M/I Homes, consult The National Builders Directory + Online Database. U.S. homebuilding surged in December to its highest rate in more than 14 years, according to Commerce Department figures. However, the gains occurred solely in single-family as multifamily starts dropped 13.6% compared to the previous month.
Total housing starts for all of 2020 were 1.38 million, a 7% gain over the 1.29-million total from 2019. Single-family starts were up 11.7% year over year. Multifamily starts for 2020 were down 3.3% from 2019, and the sector saw a comparable Y-O-Y decline in permits. December’s annualized pace of 1.34 million single-family starts represents “the highest since September 2006,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “And while NAHB is forecasting further production increases in 2021, the gains will be tempered by ongoing supply-side challenges related to material costs and delivery times, a dearth of buildable lots and regional labor shortages that continue to exacerbate affordability woes.” FivePoint Holdings LLC announced the sale of nearly 500 additional home sites at Valencia, formerly Newhall Ranch, as well as the lineup of homebuilders for the first phase of the community.
A total of 487 have closed with proceeds totaling approximately $115 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Together with the sales completed since the fourth quarter of 2019, the first phase is set to include 1,268 homesites in 18 neighborhoods, with homes ranging from 775 to 3,680 square feet in size, serving a diverse pool of buyers, with builders to include KB Home, Lennar, Richmond American, Toll Brothers and TRI Pointe Group. “We are very excited to welcome our builder partners to Valencia. The enthusiasm from the builders validates our vision and together we will build yet another nationally celebrated community,” Emile Haddad, chairman and CEO of Five Point, said in a prepared statement Monday, adding that the community will be a model of balance between social equity and environmental justice. “It will deliver a wide range of housing opportunities in one of the most constrained housing markets in the country and is being developed as the largest net zero greenhouse gas emission community of its kind in America.” The long-anticipated community is expected to be the largest provider of new homes in Los Angeles County, with plans for approximately 21,000 homes, 11.5 million square feet of commercial space and 10,000 acres of open space. The first village is set to include 1.5 million square feet of planned commercial space, which Five Point intends to develop targeted to health care providers, life science companies and lifestyle-focused uses. “In the midst of a generational housing crisis, this critically needed housing is a welcomed addition to the region,” county Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes the Santa Clarita Valley, said in the statement. “The Five Point team’s thoughtful innovation in the development of these new communities will be a model for the future. I am grateful for this partnership of nearly two decades.” The financial results of these transactions is expected to be included in Five Point’s next earnings report. Reported by Santa Clarita Valley Signal (Jan. 12, 2021) For complete contact information for all business leaders at FivePoint, KB Home, Richmond American Homes, Lennar, Toll Brothers & TRI Pointe Group, consult The National Builders Directory + Online Database. Indianapolis-based Arbor Homes has acquired Franklin-based Fisher Contracting LLC in a deal that it says will bring one of its frequent collaborators in-house. Terms of the acquisition, which closed Tuesday, were not disclosed.
Arbor is the Indianapolis area’s largest home builder, having filed 1,188 building permits in 2019, according to IBJ research. Fisher Contracting is a land development and transportation company. Over the last three years, Arbor has worked with Fisher Contracting on more than 1,000 property lots in and around the Indianapolis area. The acquisition will allow Arbor to develop more than 1,700 finished lots annually, according to the firm. Fisher Contracting owner James Fisher will continue to manage the firm’s operations, which includes 90 employees. The workforce includes utility, earthwork and grading crews that use more than 100 pieces of heavy equipment. Fisher Contracting plans to move its operations from Franklin to Trafalgar in the coming year. Arbor was acquired in July 2018 by Merryville, Tennessee-based Clayton Properties Group Inc., a division of Berkshire Hathaway, but maintains its headquarters in Indianapolis. Reported by The Indianapolis Business Journal (Dec. 1, 2020) For completed contact information for the Top 300 Homebuilders in the U.S., including Arbor Homes, including all corporate, region and division office locations and all key decision makers, refer to The National Builders Directory and Online Contact Database. Kevin Meuth is the new Division President at Dream Finders Homes in Austin, Texas. He previously served in a similar role with Green Brick Partners, Anglia Homes and Ryland Homes. Chris Kuhlmann joins View Homes as Director of Sales in Colorado, moving over from a Sales position with Century Communities. Matt Childers takes over as VP of Land for Dream Finders in Colorado. He was Director of Land for Richmond American Homes. Jeff Deane is the new CFO at Davidson Homes in Huntsville, Alabama. Deane was previously a VP with Taylor Morrison. Andrew Gagne recently joined Davidson Homes as Corporate Controller in Huntsville. He previously served as Controller for Pulte in Tennessee. Chris Birth recently moved to Dan Ryan Builders to serve as Director of Sales & Marketing in the Baltimore area, following a two-year stint in a similar position with Lennar. Cameron Kidd has joined Dan Ryan Builders as Land Acquisition Manager in the Raleigh market.
Jonathan Meadows is now Regional Manager at Comstock Companies in Virginia. Patricia Dunn is now Corporate VP of Sales & Marketing at Century Complete. She recently served in a similar role with Ashton Woods Homes. By Zach Williams
It feels like a lot of things are up in the air right now. From city to city and state to state, it’s hard to know what’s open, what’s closed, which customers are operating at full capacity, and which are struggling to keep their doors open. But one thing is certain; the way building materials are marketed has changed, and manufacturers, distributors, contractors and architects who want to excel in 2021 and beyond need to adjust their strategies to accommodate the realities of today’s marketplace. With fewer opportunities for sales teams to meet customers face to face, and fewer in-person events for suppliers to introduce new products, everyone in the building materials channel needs to find new opportunities to connect, and one of the best ways to do that these days is with social media. Why Social Media? If you’re reading this thinking that social media is still about sharing cute cat videos and artistic photos of restaurant meals, then it’s time to take another look. Social media has become a hub for B2B marketing, including in the building materials space. With 90% of Instagram users following business accounts, and nearly 100 million senior-level decision makers on LinkedIn, social media isn’t just a personal space anymore. And it’s not just where young people hang out. Millennials are approaching their 40s. They aren’t the kids starting out in their careers. They’re managers, buyers, and business owners, and they’re using social media daily. Build Community with Instagram If you’re just getting started in social media, one of the best places to start for building materials is on Instagram. This platform is a great way to build community, show off your product, and engage with your customers and suppliers. Contractors are often active Instagram users. It’s easy to take a few pictures on a job site, share some before-and-after shots of a remodel, or even take a quick cell phone video with a few actionable tips. Even if you’re not on job sites or have finished products to show off, Instagram is still worth investing in, because your customers are already there. A quick message in Instagram chat with a compliment on a recent picture that’s been shared is a great way to build rapport and start a conversation with a designer or contractor. If you have a little money to spend, Instagram also offers advertising that still appears relatively organic to users, so they’re more likely to interact with them. While Instagram has always been tricky to get users to follow links off the platform, Instagram ads allow for “Shop Now” and “Find Out More” links that will take customers directly to your website. Establish Your Expertise in LinkedIn Once upon a time, LinkedIn was about job hunting, but now it has become the professional social media platform, and we expect this trend to continue in 2021, with more professionals working outside traditional office settings and spending more time online trying to network when face-to-face opportunities and travel are less frequent. If you haven’t set up a LinkedIn profile that establishes you as an expert and trusted partner in your field, there has never been a better time to do it. Instead of focusing on what makes you hireable to an HR manager, think about what your ideal customer is looking for, and how your profile communicates that you are the person they need to solve their problems. LinkedIn is also a great channel to share original content about projects and products, either through blogging or native video, while also mixing in updates from other parties about trends in the industry and news your customers care about. By establishing yourself as a trusted resource, you build trust and position yourself to be top-of-mind in the future. But LinkedIn isn’t just about promoting your next webinar and sharing product launch announcements. Helping is the new selling, so in order to make your LinkedIn profile work for you, you want to find opportunities to be as helpful to prospective customers as possible. Whether that’s interacting with them on the content they share, or sending a direct message with additional information they may find useful, you want to give way more than you ever ask for. Working closely with your content marketing team, this can be a great way to provide high-quality content, and find out what your customers really care about. Help Customers Find You on Facebook It’s no secret that, when it comes to social media, Facebook is the granddaddy of them all. With more users, more ad dollars, and everything in between, you can’t ignore Facebook, no matter what your industry is. If nothing else, Facebook is huge when it comes to search engine optimization, so make sure your company’s Facebook page is up to date so that customers know how to find you, what your business hours are, and have a convenient way to reach you. One of our favorite digital marketing tactics for building materials is using chatbots on your website, but if you’re not ready to do that, making sure you have someone who replies to inquiries through Facebook messenger is a great way to engage customers and drive sales. Remember that people aren’t just looking at your Facebook page during normal business hours. Because the platform crosses the span between personal and professional lives, using Facebook Messenger as a de facto chatbot is a powerful tool to help customers make buying decisions all day and all night. If you’re watching TV after dinner, pull up your company’s Facebook page and answer a few questions. Your customers will be pleased with the promptness of your reply, and factors like that go a long way into informing buying decisions. Find Your Customers Where They Are While we may not all be stuck at home the way we were earlier in 2020, the bottom line is your customers are on social media. Whether they’re scrolling through Facebook after work, looking for experts to answer questions during the business day, or sharing a quick picture to Instagram on their lunch break, your customers are already on social media, so why aren’t you? The key to any social media strategy is to get started. Newsfeeds move fast, so it’s okay to make mistakes. Focus on creating relationships and being as helpful as possible, and set a few key metrics to monitor, whether that’s followers on your account or new leads sent to your website. While there’s a lot of uncertainty facing us right now, one thing is for sure: Social media is a valuable marketing tool that many building materials companies aren’t taking full advantage of. If you wade into the waters, you’ll set yourself ahead of your competition, and find hungry customers waiting to hear from you. Zach Williams is the Founder and CEO of Venveo, a digital marketing agency focused on helping building material manufacturers increase sales by using their online presence. He has helped hundreds of brands across the building materials and construction industry grow sales and build brand loyalty through digital marketing. Zach has received numerous Webby Awards, has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal, and is the host of the Smarter Building Materials Marketing Podcast. LGI Homes has bought 389 acres in booming West Fort Worth for a 1,225-home development where prices will be between $230,000 and $280,000. M/I Homes expands its footprint in the Triangle area of North Carolina with the purchase of land in Apex for the next phase of a booming residential development. M/I Homes paid $18 million for 80 acres of land for future sections four and five of the Friendship Station residential development in North Carolina.
Dallas-based Crow Holdings and James R. Harris Partners sold the land for the new residential community. Chris Harden and Ryan Duffie of Cushman & Wakefield represented Crow Holdings and James R. Harris Partners in the transaction. The first neighborhoods will be ready by late 2021 or early 2022 and the community will be built out in six phases. The site of the community, called Vista West, is near the northwest intersection of Loop 820 and Interstate 30, east of the massive 7,200-acre Walsh Ranch development. LGI Homes (Nasdaq: LGIH), the 10th largest homebuilder in the U.S. according to Builder Magazine, is taking a big position in a booming market, Duffie of Cushman & Wakefield said. “In Dallas-Fort Worth, brand new single-family homes are hard to come by at this price point,” Duffie said. “With current limited availability, these homes are expected to generate significant interest.” The location is a prime one, C&W’s Harden said in a statement. “The property benefits from outstanding accessibility and connectivity as it’s conveniently located off Interstate 30, allowing future residents direct access to major employment, medical and entertainment hubs including downtown Fort Worth, JPS Hospital, Lockheed Martin, West 7th, Sundance Square and the Fort Worth Stockyards,” Harden said. Dallas-Fort Worth was LGI’s second-best performing market in the nation in the third quarter, company CEO Eric Lipar said in an earnings call Tuesday. The homebuilder averaged 9.9 closings per community per month in DFW. That compares to a national average of 6.4 closings per community per month, Lipar said. Sarasota was LGI’s top market with 12.3 closings per community per month. Houston and San Antonio tied for third with 8.8 closings per community monthly each, followed by Atlanta with 8.1 closings, the CEO said. LGI has 110 active communities nationwide, a 6.8 percent increase over the third quarter of 2019. M/I Homes' plans for the Apex property feature 221 single-family homes and 89 townhomes. Amenities include a pool and clubhouse, two play lawns, a recreation field and natural walking trails. Work is expected to begin next fall. “We are so excited for the future of Friendship Station,” said Allison Moriarty, vice president of sales & marketing for M/I Homes. “This is a beautiful tract of land within walking distance to some of the best schools in the area." Friendship Station is a residential development featuring hundreds of acres of single-family and townhome units plus retail and commercial space. Just to west of this property, the town of Apex approve a rezoning request from M/I Homes clearing the way for a 141-acre development with 520 homes. The development will have a mix of single-family homes and townhomes. The company is also partnering with Habitat for Humanity to include 15 affordable homes in the project. All this joins a growing number of residential developments planned and underway in the Triangle. Near Fuquay-Varina, Greenfield Communities unveiled its plans for Serenity, a massive residential development in Harnett Count calling for around 1,200 single-family homes at prices expected to range from the $200,000s to $500,000s. In Wendell, Raleigh-based Strong Rock Development filed a rezoning request for the Rogers Property. Preliminary plans lay out 328 townhomes and park space west of downtown. |
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