PulteGroup, one of the nation’s biggest homebuilders, expects more than 200 employees as part of its relocation to Atlanta, company officials said Thursday.
PulteGroup Chairman, President and CEO Richard Dugas said the company will need skilled individuals in purchasing, accounting, finance, IT and administration once it completes its relocation from Michigan next summer. The company has established a website, www.pultegroupatlanta.com, for interested applicants.
Dugas’ remarks came at a welcoming ceremony at One Capital City Plaza in Buckhead near Lenox Square, where PulteGroup will occupy five floors and house about 320 employees.
In May, the homebuilder confirmed plans to move its corporate operations from a Detroit suburb to Atlanta. Thursday’s comments by Dugas gave the clearest indication yet of how many people the homebuilder expects to hire locally.
PulteGroup committed to a total of 310 new and relocated jobs in exchange for various state and local incentives that could total more than $7.3 million.
With Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed looking on, Dugas also spoke about the business decision behind the relocation. In addition to Georgia’s business climate, Dugas cited the region’s growth potential.
“The answer is simple. There’s a (saying) in real estate many of you may have heard and it goes like this: Location, location, location,” Dugas said.
The nation’s second-largest builder by number of homes sold and first by revenue said in 2012 its Southeast operations accounted for 37 percent of its home closings and 43 percent of its annual invested cash. The Sun Belt will be a continued focus going forward.
Dugas also mentioned projections that the state’s population could grow by 46 percent through 2030, as well as home price and pending sales reports that show metro Atlanta’s housing market has picked itself up from the bottom.
“We can’t wait to sell homes to all those folks,” Dugas said.
PulteGroup, like many builders, took a beating during the housing collapse, and acquired rival Centex Corp. in 2009. PulteGroup had nearly $15 billion in revenue in fiscal 2005, and the combined company had $4.82 billion in revenue last year.
Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams hailed the company as an iconic brand in homebuilding and in his remarks thrust the company into the Fortune 500, where it has been in the past, but ranked at No. 501 in the latest issue.
Deal quipped that PulteGroup will return to the Top 500. “Just coming to Georgia we’ll be sure that happens,” the governor said.
