RICHARDSON COLUMN: Wieland Homes sells assets to private equity firm

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, a high-profile developer in the Lowcountry, recently sold its assets to Massachusetts-based private equity firm Wheelock Street Capital for an undisclosed price.

The deal, described as a partnership into which Wheelock will inject “significant new capital resources,” includes Wieland's portfolio of 300 homes and more 5,000 lots, officals said.

Wieland Homes, an Atlanta-based homebuilder founded by John Wieland in 1970, has a sizable footprint in Lowcountry, including developments in Dunes West and Hamlin Plantation, both in Mount Pleasant, and on Daniel Island.

Wieland, 75, was named chairman of the new partnership, which retains the John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods moniker.

“With this new partnership, we are exceptionally well-positioned to take advantage of the budding recovery in the housing market, and I couldn't be more confident in our future,” Wieland said in a written statement.

Company officials could not be reached last week for comment about whether the deal will affect Wieland Homes' local holdings.

In 2009, the home builder's founder used some Lowcountry homes as a backdrop for his efforts to promote home sales during the recession, sleeping in some of his unsold houses across the Southeast until 101 properties went under contract.

Coincidentally, Wieland Homes made headlines for another reason last week in a case that involved its Dunes West Golf Club LLC. The state Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a lower court's ruling denying the company's plans to build more than two dozen new homes near the Mount Pleasant golf course.

Reach Tyrone Richardson at 937-5550 and follow him on Twitter @tyrichardsonPC.