Ryland

Suddenly on March 29, 2004, RYLAND WATKINS, beloved husband of Shirley Watkins, devoted father of Wendy A. Jones & her husband Gregory G., Sherry L. Hemmingsen & her husband Jens M., and the late Ryland Watkins, Jr., cherished grandfather of Brendan Jones, Ian Jones, and Christina Hemmingsen; loving brother of Eleanor Nagle and her husband John J. Jr. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories Parkville Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9...

Enterprise Community Partners, a Columbia-based organization that helps people around the country find affordable housing, is itself getting a new home but staying in Columbia. After considering numerous locations, the nonprofit founded by James and Patricia Rouse plans to move its headquarters next year to the Columbia building once occupied by the Ryland Group, less than a mile from its current location. Before starting Enterprise, James Rouse headed the company that launched the development of Columbia 50 years ago. "The location is important to us because of its relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Rouse, and Enterprise was founded here," said Charles Werhane, president and chief executive of Enterprise Community Investment, an affiliate of Enterprise Community Partners that also will move to the former Ryland building.

Columbia-based homebuilder Ryland Group Inc. and a dissatisfied homeowner who had been picketing the company's headquarters have settled the lawsuits they had brought against each another, the attorney for the homeowner said Friday.The lawyer, Robert DiCicco of Towson, said the out-of-court agreement barred him from disclosing details of the settlement, reached Thursday, between Ryland and Baltimore County resident Mark Kukucka.Mr. Kukucka said he, too, could not comment on the agreement.

As a further sign of its investment in the revitalization of Columbia's town center, the Howard Hughes Corp. last week acquired the former Ryland Group headquarters, a nine-story office building next to The Mall in Columbia and close to land where Howard Hughes plans to build a $100 million apartment and retail complex. The property known as 70 Corporate Center opened in 1992 at Little Patuxtent and Broken Land parkways and is one of Columbia's largest office buildings, with nearly 170,000 square feet of space.

For the sixth consecutive year, Ryland Homes leads the Baltimore region's builder market share with 949 sales registered in 1990, or 11.5percent of the market, according to a report in Housing Market Profiles, a quarterly publication by Legg Mason Realty Group Inc.Ryland's expanded presence in Anne Arundel County was cited as a deciding factor in its success, despite the building permit slowdown.Ryan Homes claimed the number two position in the statistics, with 712 sales recorded in 1990, for an 8.6 percent share of the market.

The future of the Ryland Group Inc. may very well lie within four spacious, elegantly decorated model homes about a mile from its Columbia headquarters.Beyond their amenities -- large windows, higher ceilings and option packages ranging from entertainment rooms to offices -- the homes represent Ryland's revamped attitude and one of its first attempts to shed its generic image.The Trails at Woodlot, a 66-acre site where 56 single-family, detached homes and 32 townhouses are slated, also marks the first involvement in a Ryland project by R. Chad Dreier, the firm's president and chief executive since November 1993.

On June 4, 2004 ROY RYLAND WOLFORD, JR.; beloved husband of Marjorie B. Wolford; devoted father of Roy A. Wolford and his wife Gina, Jeffrey A. Wolford and his wife Lori, Christopher M. Johnson and Tiffany D. Stegall and her husband Erik; dear brother of Mary Louise Mintz, Rose Ann Woodhouse and Nina Chaffman. Also survived by eight grandchildren and one great grandchild. Friends may call at the Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home, Inc., 3631 Falls Rd., on Sunday and Monday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services on Tuesday at 10 A.M. Interment in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

The selection of Ryland Group and Otis Warren to build 113 townhouses on an eight-acre lot near the B&O Railroad Museum is some of the best news on Baltimore's housing front for a long time. The city is clearly taking no chances with this development and wants to make sure that it will be done right. That is the wise course.It has taken too long for the city's development officials to recognize that the best way to make downtown living attractive is to provide buyers with a product that they want and that is offered everywhere in the suburbs.

During the past four months, Mark Kukucka has spent many lunch hours and weekends picketing the national headquarters of The Ryland Group Inc. in Columbia and some of its new home developments in Baltimore and Howard counties with a sign warning: "I bought a lemon. You could too."The sign symbolizes the tart relationship that has developed between a once-happy customer and a company with a national reputation for well-built homes.Mr. Kukucka's goal in picketing is to make prospective Ryland customers aware of his "disappointment" with a $183,000 Ryland home he purchased in October 1993 in the Parkview Trails development near Security Square Mall.

The president of the Ryland Group Inc.'s Middle Atlantic division has resigned, in a move that follows the arrival of a new chief executive late last year and sluggish mid-Atlantic sales that have drawn the nation's third-biggest homebuilder criticism from Wall Street.Arthur L. Titus, who joined the company from rival Ryan Homes in 1990, resigned Friday, Ryland spokeswoman Anne Madison said. She said the Columbia-based company has not yet announced a replacement."It was his decision," Ms. Madison said.

The Ryland Group, one of the nation's largest home builders, has agreed to pay $625,000 in penalties for storm-water pollution violations at construction sites in 14 states, including Maryland. The settlement, announced by the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, covers 278 building sites, 22 of them in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Among the citations against Ryland were releasing polluted storm water without a permit, and failure to develop and follow plans for controlling runoff.

Todd and Nancy Armstrong found themselves in a suburban twilight zone this spring when they ordered a pizza the first night after moving into their newly built townhouse near Aberdeen. It took three hours - and a lot of help over the telephone - for the delivery driver to find their place. That was just the beginning. For the next few weeks, they couldn't get their mail forwarded, or change the billing address for their credit cards, because the Postal Service had no record of their street.

Snowden Overlook Location: Columbia. Take Route 175 to Snowden River Parkway, west, and turn right onto Dried Earth Boulevard Developers: Ryland Group Inc. and Lennar Corp. Description: About 380 units are planned for this development. It is restricted to those ages 55 and older. The development will include a community outdoor swimming pool, exercise room and media room. Homes by Ryland begin at about $460,000; units by Patriot Homes, a subsidiary of Lennar, start at about $474,000.

Don Sample, a co-founder of Land Development Services in Fallston and 13-year member of the Home Builders Association of Maryland, was named 2005 president of the association during an event this month at the Maryland Science Center. Other senior leadership posts went to: Linda Veach of Bob Ward Cos. in Edgewood, president-elect; Chris Rachuba of Rachuba Home Builders in Eldersburg, first vice president; and Herb Lose of Norandex-Reynolds Distribution in Baltimore, associate vice president.

On June 4, 2004 ROY RYLAND WOLFORD, JR.; beloved husband of Marjorie B. Wolford; devoted father of Roy A. Wolford and his wife Gina, Jeffrey A. Wolford and his wife Lori, Christopher M. Johnson and Tiffany D. Stegall and her husband Erik; dear brother of Mary Louise Mintz, Rose Ann Woodhouse and Nina Chaffman. Also survived by eight grandchildren and one great grandchild. Friends may call at the Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home, Inc., 3631 Falls Rd., on Sunday and Monday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services on Tuesday at 10 A.M. Interment in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Suddenly on March 29, 2004, RYLAND WATKINS, beloved husband of Shirley Watkins, devoted father of Wendy A. Jones & her husband Gregory G., Sherry L. Hemmingsen & her husband Jens M., and the late Ryland Watkins, Jr., cherished grandfather of Brendan Jones, Ian Jones, and Christina Hemmingsen; loving brother of Eleanor Nagle and her husband John J. Jr. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories Parkville Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9...

The Ryland Group Inc. yesterday reported strong earnings for the third quarter and nine-month periods, signaling that changes the homebuilder made earlier this year are beginning to boost its bottom line.The Columbia-based company earned $8.4 million, or 50 cents a share, on revenue of $447.8 million in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. In the same period last year, Ryland lost $22.6 million, or $1.52 a share, on revenue of $376.6 million.In the first nine months of 1994, Ryland generated net income of $22.2 million, or $1.31 a share, on revenue of $1.2 billion, vs. a net loss of $10.3 million, 80 cents a share, on revenue of $1.04 billion in the comparable period in 1993.

The Ryland Group Inc. plans to step up internal cost-control measures in 1995 in response to a nationwide downward spiral of new-home sales and construction, the company's chairman said at its annual shareholders meeting yesterday.Ryland Chairman and Chief Executive R. Chad Dreier's comments about the future of the Columbia-based company, the nation's third-largest homebuilder, came one day after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the pace of home building slumped nearly 8 percent last month to a two-year low."

When Drew Mace and his wife went to purchase a new house in Harford County recently, they decided to customize the single-family home by instructing builders to extend the foyer and the front of the house. "My ultimate goal would have been to have had an architect design my own house, but obviously that's prohibitive," Mace said. "Being able to have choices X, Y and Z was very nice." In a radical departure from the past, home designs aren't being left to the experts anymore. New-home shoppers increasingly are aging, affluent and well-informed about design trends, according to industry specialists.

Think smaller. Maybe closer. Not necessarily cheaper. Those were some of the new-home themes that emerged at the 2003 International Builders Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders in Las Vegas. After years of reporting on the ever-larger size of the average U.S. single-family home, Gopal Ahluwali, vice president of research for the builders' group, said recent figures indicate that the size of the average new home is leveling off at about 2,300 square feet. This is the first time in seven years that the average size hasn't grown.