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Tampa Home Builder To Liquidate Company

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

Published: January 7, 2009

TAMPA - After years of losing money and an unsuccessful bid to find a buyer, a long-time Tampa home building company is calling it quits.

Tampa-based Walter Industries Inc. said Tuesday that it is closing its Jim Walter Homes subsidiary. The company has built more than 350,000 houses in the Southeast since it opened in 1946 but has not been profitable in several years, said company spokesman Michael Monahan.

The parent company looked for a buyer and considered a partial sale but finally decided to liquidate the home building company, Monahan said. The tightness of the credit market is primarily to blame, he said.

The closure will result in 230 jobs lost nationwide, including 45 at the company's headquarters in Tampa.

"The story of Jim Walter Homes began as World War II ended and soldiers came home to pursue the American Dream," said Walter Industries Chairman Michael T. Tokarz. "Regrettably, it ends at a time when the fundamentals of the homebuilding industry have deteriorated in ways never seen before."

The loss of the well-known company is a hit for the Tampa area, which continues to see jobs cut, especially in the housing sector, said John Sykes, a longtime Tampa businessman and founder of Tampa's Sykes Enterprises, an outsource call center company.

"You hate to see old-time Tampa businesses going away," Sykes said. "But times are changing. It's not a bad reflection on Tampa, though, because the housing industry is a nationwide problem."

Even though Walter Industries is losing the Jim Walter name, the company hopes to strengthen its natural resources and energy-related businesses.
Jim Walter Homes has about 150 homes under construction and said it will uphold its customer obligations. Customers with questions can call the company at 1-800-925-8374, ext. 4444.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

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