Another news report. Another assertion that what's been reported isn't really news.
That's been the pattern in recent months whenever information about Burr Ridge, Ill.-based Pasquinelli halting construction in one more of its subdivisions leaks out in a print or online story. The latest, published earlier this week in the Indianapolis Star, reported, without attribution, that the builder "has stopped construction of homes in the Indianapolis area and other markets where it's active."
Jonathan Dedmon, Pasquinelli's spokesman, has repeatedly told BUILDER over the past several weeks that Pasquinelli has halted construction at all of its subdivisions. Dedmon also has stated that the builder is currently negotiating with 20 or so lenders and continues to sell in those subdivisions where it has reached some kind of arrangement with its banks.
Dedmon can't account for why this story keeps resurfacing, although there has been some evidence that the construction stoppage didn't happen at once in all of the builder's communities. That there's confusion about where Pasquinelli is active, though, isn't surprising when information about the company is sometimes contradictory. For example, Dedmon told BUILDER yesterday that Pasquinelli continues to sell homes in three of its seven subdivisions in the Indianapolis market. The company's Web site identifies only two communities in Indianapolis—Prairie Lakes and The Townes at Noble West—where new homes are available, and the latter is identified as being closed out. (Dedmon, of course, could be right, as Web sites in general are notoriously out of date.)
As of yesterday afternoon, the builder's Web site showed that Pasquinelli is selling new homes in 63 communities in nine states. (Past estimates have put Pasquinelli's total number of subdivisions at between 85 and 100. Dedmon did not have a current figure.) The builder appears to be most active in South Carolina, where its Web site showed 16 communities in four markets with homes for sale. The builder is also selling product in 13 neighborhoods in North Carolina, 12 in Texas, 11 in Illinois, and eight in Georgia. On the other hand, Pasquinelli is currently not selling product in Ohio and West Virginia and has only one community in Pennsylvania—Scotland Run—where inventory two- and three-bedroom ranch homes are available.
Most of the markets where Pasquinelli is marketing new homes also have inventory homes for sale.
John Caulfield is senior editor at BUILDER magazine.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Chicago, IL, Indianapolis, IN.
