WCI Communities: It's deja vu all over again

If you needed another sign that real estate is hot again, then consider the case of WCI Communities.

The Bonita Springs-based developer and homebuilder that emerged from bankruptcy reorganization just four years ago recently upped its initial public offering of stock from $150 million in May to $222.4 million on July 15, according to its registration filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
And why not?

Like many homebuilders, WCI has been selling new homes at a rapid clip. Homebuilding revenues at WCI jumped 217% in the first quarter to $30.5 million.

Certainly, creditors who took the risk of reorganization with WCI deserve to be rewarded. In the depths of the recession in 2008, they chose not to liquidate the company and instead made a bet that Florida real estate would rebound again — as it always has after busts.

WCI's creditors-turned-shareholders will sell 1,590,909 shares alongside the company's 6,819,091 shares when they sell at a price estimated to be between $21 and $23 a share. No date has been set for the sale, but the underwriters led by Citigroup, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan won't be left out, either. They'll have an option to buy another 1,261,500 shares from the selling stockholders. There will be nearly 26 million shares outstanding, according to the company's prospectus.

WCI will net $135.5 million from the IPO, which is nearly the amount that Al Hoffman raised when he took WCI public for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange. Hoffman raised $130 million after he combined his company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities.