Description
Del E. Webb was a construction company, that was founded in 1928 and developed by Del Webb and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States. It became the Del E. Webb Corporation in 1960. That same year, the corporation unveiled Sun City outside of Phoenix as the first sun city senior homes designed by Del E. Webb. Many more Sun Cities were built by the corporation in the following decades. Along with construction, the corporation was also involved in real estate and owned several properties mainly hotels and casinos, many of which were built and/or expanded by the company. The company was purchased in 2001 by Pulte Homes. Pulte Homes since merged with Centex Corp. and is now PulteGroup. Del Webb continues as a brand of PulteGroup.
The company also worked with many notable 20th century architects including Welton Becket, Flatow, Moore, Bryan, and Fairburn, Charles Luckman, William Pereira, Martin Stern Jr., Lescher & Mahoney, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Zick & Sharp, Edward L. Varney, Ralph Haver, Michael & Kemper Goodwin, Kivet & Myers, Adrian Wilson, A. C. Martin, and Ralph C. Harris.
History
After moving from Fresno to Phoenix, Del Webb founded his namesake construction company in 1928. Among his earliest commissions were grocery store buildings for the Basha family. Webb soon became known as a grocery store builder. However Webb sought to expand his firm and eagerly sought out public sector jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1937 the firm opened a small branch office in Los Angeles to oversee construction of a high school there. With the onset of World War II the firm constructed several airfields throughout Arizona, as well as a Japanese internment camp at Poston (Poston War Relocation Center). In 1943 Webb made trusted employee L. C. Jacobson a 25 percent partner. Jacobson eventually became vice president. In 1946 Webb was contracted by mobster Bugsy Siegel to build the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. In the early 1950s Webb would be contracted to build facilities for Howard Hughes. The Webb firm would go on to build several plants for Hughes. In 1952 the company founded its first subsidiary, the Del E. Webb Development Company, responsible for the design and construction of housing tracts and shopping centers. In 1953 the development company would begin construction on San Manuel, Arizona a mining town built out of nothing. In 1955 the Webb corporation began constructing hotels for the Flamingo Corporation, which Webb was part owner. The following year Webb constructed the first Hiway House Hotel, which was a company separate from Flamingo and solely owned by Webb. As well as housing, during the 1950s, the construction company would build hospitals hotels and other large and small scale projects.
On January 1, 1960 the development company unveiled Sun City, Arizona as the first community designed for senior citizens. It was followed by Sun City, California, the Kern City and Stockdale developments in Bakersfield and Sun City Center, Florida. In December 1960 the Del E. Webb Construction Company went public on the New York Stock Exchange trading as WBB. The company also became known as the Del E. Webb Corporation at this time. In 1961 the Webb Corporation acquired the Sahara Nevada Corporation and its holdings of the Sahara and Mint hotels in Las Vegas. This made Webb the first publicly held corporation to be involved in Las Vegas gaming. Webb would go on to purchase, build and expand several properties throughout Nevada. In the 1960s Webb would develop a chain of high-end multi-story hotels called the Towne House. During this time the corporation was also deeply involved in the development of Oak Brook, Illinois, Clear Lake City, Texas and Alamaden, California. In the late 1960s the corporation entered a joint venture building infrastructure for several South American countries, this was the firm's first involvement outside the United States. Also at this time the corporation formed an additional subsidiary the Del E. Webb Building Management Company which was responsible for building management, it would eventually become the Del E. Webb Realty and Management Company when the subsidiary expanded to include holding leases on public buildings. In 1971 the corporation acquired Merlin Hotels which had many properties throughout East Asia. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the corporation continued to construct many large and small scale projects including housing, schools, hospitals, hotels, high rises, convention centers, athletic venues and airports.
In 1987 the decision was made to divest the gaming, hotel and realty management sections of the corporation all of the Webb owned properties were sold off, and the corporation reorganized to focus solely on the concept of master planned communities for senior citizens. New communities opened in Arizona, Nevada, California and Texas. In 2001 the corporation was purchased by Pulte Homes. The Del Webb name is used by Pulte as a brand name for its age-restricted communities.
