WCI Communities
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | : WCIC S&P 600 Component |
| Industry | Residential Construction |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder | Al Hoffman, Jr. |
| Headquarters | Bonita Springs, FL |
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Area served
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Eastern United States |
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Key people
|
Keith Bass, CEO Russel Devendorf, CFO |
| Revenue | US$ 444 million (2008) |
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Number of employees
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650 (2011) |
| Website | WCICommunities.com |
WCI Communities, Inc. is an American home builder. The company offers single family and condominium homes. WCI also provides design, construction, financing, land purchases, marketing, and community management services. The company operates realty, mortgage, and title businesses. WCI is based in Bonita Springs, Florida and develops new home communities in Florida. WCI also manages clubhouses, golf courses, restaurants, and marinas in some of the communities it develops.
WCI was founded in 1995 as WCI Communities Inc, purchased from Westinghouse Communities, Inc., retaining WCI initials in their new name. In 2002, WCI Communities, Inc. issued an Initial Public Offering and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol: WCI. WCI's current Chief Executive Officer and President is Keith Bass. WCI reorganized and emerged as a new privately held company on September 3, 2009.
WCI specialized in luxury and second homes and had solid growth since its founding reaching a height of $2.6B in sales and $186M in profit in 2005. They were sharply affected by the 2005 real estate downturn. Several factors contributed to their need to reorganize. First, a significant portion of their business was in high rise towers. Once construction is started on high rise towers, it is difficult to cease construction and thereby control cost. Second, WCI speculated on large land purchases, carrying large debt on land that was subsequently devalued. Third, their regular (non-tower) communities had large unsold inventories that were also devalued during the downturn. Eventually, the debt was too large to carry with their operating revenues and they filed for Chapter 11.
WCI is one of many real estate developers affected by the Chinese drywall controversy. Like many other builders, they faced construction material supply shortages during the boom years and engaged contactors that used the faulty Chinese drywall. The issue was made part of the bankruptcy reorganization. Claimants are represented by a trust established in the court approved Plan of Reorganization.
The National Association of Home Builders and Builder Magazine named WCI "America's Best Builder" in 2004.
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Wikipedia