Japan’s largest homebuilder, Sekisui House, is now a player in metro Denver’s housing market after its subsidiary acquired control of nearly 1,900 acres in two area communities.
North America Sekisui House, or NASH, announced Wednesday that it purchased Anthem Colorado in Broomfield and Inspiration Colorado in northern Douglas County from Wheelock Street Capital for an undisclosed amount.
NASH will partner with Newland Communities of San Diego to oversee the build-out of 971 acres and 738 homesites at Anthem and 914 acres and 1,553 homesites at Inspiration.
“Wheelock had assets we felt were good assets,” said Ted Nelson, Newland’s central region president. “NASH valued getting into the dynamic Denver market.”
Besides the two Colorado communities, NASH also acquired the Sweetwater community in Austin, Texas, and Canyon Falls in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Nelson said Anthem is about 75 percent built out and Inspiration is just getting started. Newland will work to bring lots to market for builders and flesh out the development plans Wheelock crafted.
NASH, which Sekisui launched in 2010, initially focused on communities in Virginia, North Carolina and Texas but branched out to California, Washington, Oregon and now Colorado.
NASH is working with another partner, Holland Partner Group, on and 39,000 square feet of retail at block B of Belleview Station, a transit-oriented development in the Denver Tech Center.
Denver had the largest gain in home values among major metro areas in January, and one of the .
Although a , Zillow recently reported that .
Lot developers were decimated by the housing downturn last decade, and Wheelock, which oversees $1.4 billion in private equity targeted at real estate, swooped in and picked up significant bargains here in 2008.
“They see a chance to make a profit. We see a chance to make a profit,” Nelson said.
Newland, which is involved in more than 140 residential projects, is known for multi-generational communities that integrate senior housing with a mix of other types, Nelson said.
He said there are currently no plans for Sekisui House, which got its start in 1960, to construct homes in its two Colorado communities.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
