Washington Homes Inc., which builds primarily in the Baltimore and Washington areas, is heading south and increasing its national presence by acquiring the top homebuilder for the Mississippi Gulf Coast and northern Alabama.

Landover-based Washington Homes announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement to buy Breland Homes, a privately owned homebuilder with operations in Huntsville, Ala., and Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss.

The agreement was for just more than $10 million, according to Christopher Spendley, chief financial officer for Washington Homes.

Washington Homes is the 11th-largest builder in metropolitan Baltimore, with 149 sales last year, according to Meyers Housing Data Reports, a Washington firm that tracks home construction.

But the company ranks fifth overall in the region, with a total of 1,087, when combining sales from the Washington metropolitan market.

"We had identified the Gulfport area as a place that we felt there would be a lot of employment growth because of the gaming industry that has become part of that area," Spendley said.

"It was a good place to explore in buying a homebuilder," he said.

Spendley said Washington Homes entered into negotiations with Louis Breland, principal of the company, two months ago and signed an agreement Wednesday night.

Breland Homes is a 20-year-old single-family builder with 1998 revenue of approximately $32 million on 263 home closings. The transaction gives Washington Homes control over approximately 2,700 owned or optioned building lots.

Washington Homes said it plans to make Huntsville its base for a new Mid-South Region that will also include the company's Nashville, Tenn., operation.

"Part of our strategy is to enter these markets that have good employment growth, but also in these cases we enter into these markets with a No. 1 market share right away," Spendley said.

"That is what the attractiveness of Breland was he had a No. 1 market position in each of these markets," Gulfport and Huntsville.

When the acquisition is completed, Washington Homes will be operating 88 communities in seven states.

Washington Homes, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, finished yesterday unchanged at $6.1875.

The company will operate its new operation under the Westminster Homes name that it uses in North Carolina and Tennessee. Breland Homes is active in 13 communities in Alabama and Mississippi.

Pub Date: 3/26/99