Pulte pulls out of proposed Benson home development

By Thelma Grimes
Published/Last Modified on Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 - 10:30:04 pm MST

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Wick News Service

BENSON — The planned 13,750-home Pulte Homes development on Highway 90 will not happen, Whetstone Ranch developer Pat Lopez told the Benson City Council Monday night.

Pulte is pulling out of the project because of the national slump in the housing market, Lopez said. The developer had planned to begin construction by now.

“The national market is not doing well, and that had affected Pulte’s operations,” Lopez said. “They are not in the position right now to move forward with a project of this scope.”

John Ward, Pulte Homes director of development, echoed Lopez’s remarks.

“We are withdrawing,” he said. “While it is regrettable, I want to make some key points. Whetstone Ranch is a wonderful development and will be successful in one form or another. The market conditions are to the point that we have to be conservative with our capital. It’s not a wise choice to drag this out. It’s not fair to this development.”

Pulte was proposing the Anthem project, which was going to be a large part of the 20,000-home Whetstone Ranch development.

Lopez said the project will move forward and there has been interest expressed by other developers. Whetstone Ranch is a 15,000-acre project under construction on Highway 90.

Other parts of the development are already moving forward, with 100 lots in Cottonwood Bluffs already sold and the initial phases of several other portions are under way, Lopez said.

Pulte reports loss

Pulte Homes is feeling the pinch of the housing market cooldown.

The company reported a net loss of $85.7 million in the first quarter of 2007. Consolidated revenues for the quarter were $1.9 billion, a decline of 37 percent from prior year revenues of $3 billion.

“Overall, the homebuilding environment remained challenging during the first quarter of 2007, as elevated inventory levels combined with weak consumer confidence for housing continue to place pressure on results,” said Richard J. Dugas Jr., president and CEO of Pulte Homes. “During this period of market weakness, Pulte continues to focus on maintaining a healthy balance sheet and adjusting our house and land inventory levels to better match current market conditions.”

Homebuilding pre-tax loss for the first quarter of 2007 is inclusive of approximately $132.1 million of pre-tax charges resulting from adjustments to land inventory and land held for sale, and the write-off of deposits and pre-acquisition costs associated with land transactions the company no longer plans to pursue.

The company has a contract backlog valued at $4.7 billion, representing 13,334 homes.

Thelma Grimes is a reporter with the San Pedro Valley News-Sun in Benson, which is owned by Wick Communications Co. Pulte press releases contributed to this report.

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Patty wrote on Jan 18, 2009 10:40 PM:

" Hank is the man!!! "

Robert Buscher wrote on Dec 6, 2007 9:18 AM:

" My name is rob. i am a good friend of stan and he is a huge influence on my life. He is a great person and i hope he succeeds in everything he does. "

Bob Lucas wrote on May 8, 2007 4:25 AM:

" Benson is a great area, needs developement, new houses, I think people would move there in droves. I think it would be worth scaling the project down, and pursuing it on a smaller scale. Loved Benson, would like to move there, but,,, no housing. Scale down the project, "if you build it, they will come". "