Centex sells resort and second home projects

Steve Brown, The Dallas Morning News

Apr. 3--Continuing a string of recent dispositions, Dallas-based Centex Corp. has sold a group of resort and second-home developments to a Dallas real estate investment group.

The properties -- including three in Texas -- were owned by Centex Destination Properties, the nationwide homebuilder's resort housing division.

Macfarlan Capital Partners of Dallas acquired the properties, which total almost 4,000 acres. The sale represents about 30 percent of Centex's resort property holdings.

Terms of the transaction, announced Wednesday by Macfarlan, were not disclosed.

The acquisition includes Centex's Pointe West development in Galveston and the Hollows and Waters at Horseshoe Bay Resort projects in the Texas Hill Country.

Macfarlan acquired the properties, which are in three states, in a partnership with a group of investors. Centex had been negotiating to sell the resort real estate since last year.

Earlier in the week, Centex announced that it sold more than 8,500 lots in 11 states and other real estate to an investment group led by Dallas-based RSF Partners Inc. for $161 million in cash and other considerations.

And Centex sold its home pest control division to Atlanta-based Rollins Inc. for $137 million.

Previously, the company sold its commercial construction and home equity lending divisions.

Centex chief executive Tim Eller acknowledged in a conference call with analysts this week that the company didn't have much left to sell.

"We've pretty much accomplished our mission," focusing on Centex's core homebuilding business and raising cash through asset sales, he said.

But Mr. Eller said Centex might peddle some individual properties.

"As we look into the future, we still would seek to pare back our land position," he said. "I would not expect at this time, nor are we seeking to do, additional bulk sales."

To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Dallas Morning News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.