The Ave Herald

Pulte Homes is making significant new commitments to marketing areas of Ave Maria, the company's president for Southwest Florida, Ryan Marshall, told The Ave Herald.

The first new initiative, Mr. Marshall said, is introducing 10 new models for the town's Del Webb section. Model homes will be built in an area where Pulte has broken ground next to the golf course, behind the cafe (right, in photo by Jo Ellen Monahan)

"We are really positive about the future of the community and see it as a long-term investment," Mr. Marshall said. Del Webb is the company's immediate priority for Ave Maria, Mr. Marshall said, because the "active adult" market has proven to be more resilient to the decline in the housing market overall.

The company also has done preliminary work on a new model park located between the Donahue Academy and the water park that will showcase new models to be built in the Hampton Village and Emerson Park areas.

"We're still evaluating which homes make sense" for those communities, Mr. Marshall said, adding that the company's plan is "absolutely" to offer models with larger floor plans that would be more suitable for larger families. He did not give a time for making those new models available other than to say that it would be after the Del Webb model park is complete in the spring of 2010.

The new Del Webb models will range from 1,300-square-foot two-bedroom homes to 2,600-square-foot four-bedroom houses.