Signs Of The Time, Part 11
You know American homebuilders are facing tough times when one of their affiliated organizations must sell their headquarters due to a lack of funds. According to the Associated Press yesterday, three years after moving into its new $3.5 million headquarters, the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids is selling the building. According to the piece:
Chief Executive Judy Barnes said the association is hampered by the weak economy, a sluggish residential building industry and declining membership. That triple whammy resulted in some pledges made toward paying for construction of the 15,000-square-foot headquarters going unfulfilled…
“Like the rest of our industry, it is a little slow right now,” John Overbeck, president of the association’s board of directors, told The Grand Rapids Press. “We’ve looked at it for the last year and a half, done everything we could to weigh our decision.”
Membership and staff numbers have reflected the fortunes of the U.S. housing market these past few years. When the trade group moved to the new headquarters in March 2005, it had more than 1,200 members and 19 employees. Later that year (and at the peak of the housing market), membership grew to around 1,400. Since that time, numbers have fallen to 980 members and 10 staffers.
Source:
“Home builders selling its posh headquarters”
Associated Press, April 6, 2008
Leave a Reply