News
Watt Companies Partners with Granite Homes to Revive Stalled Mosaic Residential Development Project
SANTA MONICA, Calif.-(Business Wire)-May 6, 2008 - Watt Companies, Inc. ("Watt") today announced that it has partnered with and provided equity financing to Granite Homes ("Granite") to enable the continued development of Mosaic, a fully-entitled development that encompasses 130 lots designated for construction of single-family detached homes in Riverside County, California which had been stalled as a result of financing concerns.
"Watt's experienced in-house building division, strong balance sheet, and extensive operational expertise means we are ideally positioned to successfully identify, underwrite and execute distressed property deals from conception through to exit," said Jim Maginn, Chief Executive Officer of Watt Companies. "We believe the market will see an increasing number of these types of deals; we therefore continue to look for potential partnerships of this nature throughout California and the Western region so that we may extend our financial resources and home-building acumen to assist home builders and lenders on projects of more than 50 units."
"Through expeditious due diligence, Watt was able to close this transaction very quickly and is now working closely with Granite to ensure the Mosaic development continues to move forward," said Howard Press, President of Watt Communities. "Having successfully partnered with Granite Homes in the past, Watt has a strong relationship with its entire team and a lot of confidence in its business operations, and we look forward to building and completing Mosaic in partnership with the Granite team."
"We were pleased that Watt, our partner on a variety of projects over the past 15 years, was able to understand the value proposition in this development," said Daniel Kassel, co-owner of Granite Homes.
BJ Delzer, fellow co-owner, added, "The moderately priced single-family homes at Mosaic enjoy an ideal location and will incorporate unique architecture and interesting details, making them an exciting place to call home."
Watt's equity financing was used to restructure the debt, and to provide capital for certain enhancements to the project. Detailed terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Mosaic development is located in Menifee, a district of unincorporated Riverside County, and is ideally situated near popular shopping, entertainment and recreation destinations, as well as major thoroughfares. The site is fully entitled with partial improvements; the first 67 lots have been fully improved, with the remaining 63 requiring additional improvements.
About Watt Companies, Inc.
Watt Companies is one of the most experienced owners, developers, and managers of residential, commercial and industrial real estate in the United States. With over 60 years of experience, Watt has a proven track record of providing comprehensive and diversified real estate services - including investment & advisory, development and asset management - to investors, joint venture partners, homebuyers and commercial customers. Watt currently manages over 10 million square feet of retail, multifamily, office and industrial assets. Watt has also built tens of thousands of residential units and has developed over 8 million square feet of commercial and retail properties. For more information, please visit www.wattcompanies.com.
About Granite Homes
Formed in 1992 by BJ Delzer and Daniel Kassel, Granite is a privately owned market-driven homebuilder known for developing and building high quality single family new home communities in Southern California. Granite's goal is to build between 200-250 homes per year in an efficient and profitable manner resulting in above average returns to Granite Homes and its investors. For more information, please visit www.granitehomes.com.
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