NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 1999--AMREP Corporation (NYSE:AXR) today announced that the future direction of its Rio Rancho, New Mexico real estate business will be the development and sale of land for residential, commercial and industrial uses rather than the construction and sale of housing. The Company is currently involved in both of these businesses. As part of this new direction, the Company expects to sell developed and undeveloped residential lots to a variety of national, regional and local homebuilders and to close its Rio Rancho home construction operation once this division has fulfilled its current obligations.
For the last two decades, AMREP Southwest, Inc., a Company subsidiary, has been the major developer of and homebuilder in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, the incorporated portion of which is now the fourth largest city in New Mexico with a population exceeding 50,000. Numerous national and regional companies have a significant presence in Rio Rancho, including Intel, NationsBank and Victoria's Secret. AMREP Southwest is still the largest landowner in Rio Rancho, with holdings which include several thousand acres in contiguous blocks suitable for development.
"We now see AMREP Southwest's best opportunities at Rio Rancho to be as a developer of residential, commercial and industrial land for use by others," said Jim Wall, President and Chief Executive Officer of AMREP Southwest. "We believe that attracting a number of different homebuilders to Rio Rancho will add diversity to the new homes being built and make Rio Rancho an even more desirable place to live, which should accelerate the development and sale of the substantial acreage we own there. As this development proceeds, we will continue to work closely with the local government and play a major role in community affairs."
On January 27, 1999, the Company announced that AMREP Southwest had entered into an agreement with Centex Homes, a subsidiary of one of the country's largest homebuilders, for the potential sale to Centex of more than 1,000 lots in the Enchanted Hills subdivision of Rio Rancho, and since then AMREP Southwest has also entered into separate arrangements with homebuilders for the sale of up to 200 other lots in Rio Rancho. Today, the Company announced that AMREP Southwest has signed a contract with a subsidiary of D.R. Horton, another well-known national homebuilder, under which the Horton subsidiary is expected to buy approximately 400 lots in the Northern Meadows subdivision of Rio Rancho this year, with plans for up to 175 additional lots late next year. If all of these transactions (many of which are in the nature of options) close as now scheduled, AMREP Southwest would sell approximately 1,800 lots to builders between January 1, 1999 and April 30, 2001.
AMREP Corporation Chairman of the Board, Ed Cloues commented, "For the last few months, AMREP's Board of Directors and management have been considering the best strategic direction to maximize the Company's return on its significant investment in land at Rio Rancho. By changing our emphasis from homebuilding to land sales and development, we should be able to pay down debt, build cash, simplify our business and organization in Rio Rancho and focus on one primary activity in Rio Rancho rather than two. This shift in emphasis should also lead to a more rapid and effective utilization of the Company's Rio Rancho real estate assets while at the same time reducing risk by positioning the Company so that it is better able to cope with any economic downturn that might occur. The Board and management are also actively reviewing the future direction of the Company's other real estate operations."
AMREP Corporation is a developer of real estate, primarily in New Mexico, Colorado, Northern California, and Oregon. Through its Kable News Company subsidiary, it also distributes magazines to wholesalers and provides subscription fulfillment and other services to publishers.
This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company's future strategy in Rio Rancho, New Mexico that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those which might be indicated or suggested by such forward-looking statements include the failure of the buyers to purchase the lots covered by the existing agreements, the risk of a reduced level of demand for residential, commercial or industrial land in Rio Rancho and the possibility that future economic and business conditions will be less favorable than the Company expects. Further information about these and other relevant risks and uncertainties may be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available from the Commission as well as from other sources. Recipients of this news release are cautioned to consider these risks and uncertainties and to not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein.
