Pulte Buys 123 Acres in Hawthorn Woods

CHICAGO—Although the economy has shown many signs of recovery, many observers say it won’t return to true health until new home construction kicks off in a big way. But a few builders are ready to begin work on sizable projects. Pulte Group, Inc., for example, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, has just completed the purchase of a 123-acre land parcel located at the northwest corner of Gilmer and Midlothian Roads in suburban Hawthorn Woods. The Atlanta-based company, which has operations in about 50 markets, plans to build 220 custom homes on the site. It did not disclose the price of the transaction.

The suburb is about 40 miles northwest of Chicago and prides itself on preserving open space. Pulte plans to preserve more than one-third of the development site as open land, use 20 different home models and construct four distinct neighborhoods. Prices for the homes will range from $350,000 to $800,000.