Buyer sets sights on empty condo project

The long-vacant D.R. Horton condominium project off Evergreen Parkway in Bergen Park is under contract as part of a larger deal including all of D.R. Horton’s multifamily housing complexes.

The deal is under contract and scheduled to close in September, said Jonathan Wayne, vice president for land with D.R. Horton’s Denver division. He declined to reveal the name of the buyer while the deal is pending.

There are 24 units in three buildings, ranging in size from 1,339 to 1,686 square feet.

The four-story complex was nearly finished and then abandoned by builder D.R. Horton sometime in the first part of 2007. The housing market in Evergreen has been fairly flat for the last two years, and homes are taking longer to sell, from an average of 112 days in 2005 to 136 days in 2007, according to ReMax Alliance of Evergreen.

Some of the units went on the market but were never sold, and the large complex been standing vacant for many months. Recently, some landscaping and earthmoving work has been completed.

D.R. Horton, the largest U.S. homebuilder, is a public company that has been struggling to sell property in the face of four consecutive quarterly losses during the U.S. housing slump. The company builds homes in 27 states.

The company reported a loss of $400 million in the quarter that ended June 30, which was down from a loss of $824 million a year ago. About $330 million was attributed to charges for write-offs for land the company owns but which has declined in value.