TRI Pointe Group (NYSE:TPH), Irvine was out Thursday morning with a press release promoting its efforts at several master planned communities in Southern California. The issuance of the release came three weeks after last month’s abrupt breakup with Starwood Capital Group.
On March 30, Starwood, which entered a strategic partnership with TPH in 2010, confirmed that it had sold all of its shares of TPH and that two of its executives had left the company’s board of directors. In a statement, Starwood said it sold its “entire 11,985,905 million [share] common stock position in TRI Pointe” and that “the decision to exit its stake was due to its ongoing disappointment in the performance of the company over the past several years, lack of confidence in the strategic direction of the company and disagreement over the best way to maximize shareholder value.” Starwood Capital Group’s two representatives on the TRI Pointe board, Barry Sternlicht, Chairman of the Board, and Christopher Graham, resigned from their positions on the TPH board.
On Thursday, TRI Pointe detailed the status of operations at several Southern California master planned communities. “As part of the strategic vision to unlock the value of its long-dated assets in Southern California, TRI Pointe Group®, Inc. (NYSE:TPH) announced today that it has made significant strides toward bringing six of these land assets to market. Aliento, a 498-home master-planned community in Santa Clarita, opened to great fanfare in February 2017 with over 3,000 potential home buyers in attendance at its grand opening weekend and 40 sales to date. Westridge at Canyon Hills, a 456-home master-planned community in Lake Elsinore, opened in August 2016 and has enjoyed over 165 sales to date. TRI Pointe Group has also made progress in the planning and development of four other large-scale projects in Southern California that are expected to provide over 7,000 new homes: Castlerock in Santee, which is located in San Diego County; Skyline Ranch in Santa Clarita, which is located in Los Angeles County; and Sundance and Banning in the Inland Empire.”
The release contained a statement from Tom Mitchell, President and COO at TRI Pointe Group. “We believe that much of the value of our long-dated land portfolio will become evident in our results as we bring these assets to market. The opening of the neighborhoods at Westridge and Aliento have been very well received with thousands of visitors and brisk sales. We believe our premium lifestyle offerings appeal to customers looking for a sense of community, and we are optimistic about the future performance of these projects.”
The release went on to explain the company’s strategy, stating that it “set about rethinking each master plan with a goal of updating land plans so they would appeal to community members, city officials, and other government agencies. By adopting a collaborative approach with local stakeholders in the projects, including school districts, parks departments, and surrounding community home owners’ associations, TRI Pointe Group is significantly reducing the time, development risks, and costs associated with bringing these projects to market.”
It continued, “These six assets exemplify TRI Pointe Group’s approach of using ‘placemaking’ as a theme to differentiate its projects. For example, TRI Pointe Group re-evaluated the land plan for each project with an eye toward optimizing the natural topography of the site. Home sites were oriented in ways that maximize views and enhance the overall outdoor living experience for residents. By designing customer-driven, environmentally-conscious communities, TRI Pointe Group delivers appealing lifestyle options across a variety of buyer segments and price points. In a competitive region like Southern California, TRI Pointe Group believes that this thoughtful and holistic approach powers stronger results and builds a greater sense of community.”
The full release can be seen here.
