Meritage Homes enters Charlotte market

Meritage Homes today announced that the company opened a new division in Charlotte, N.C., further expanding its Southeast Region operations. Meritage opened new divisions in Raleigh and Tampa last year, leveraging the experience and success of its management team in Orlando to penetrate attractive new markets for its homes.

The company appointed Rick Roberson as Charlotte division president. Rick has nearly ten years of home building experience and was most recently with the company's Texas Region. Under Rick's leadership, the division plans to open its first communities offering Meritage's extreme energy efficiency to home buyers in the Charlotte area later this year.

"Meritage has built a great reputation in the Orlando and Raleigh markets, and our homes have been very well-received by buyers there for the tremendous value and quality of living we offer," said Fred Vandercook, president of Meritage Homes Southeast Region. "We plan to offer similar homes in Charlotte and have every confidence that Rick and his team will be equally successful."

Charlotte is the largest metropolitan area in North Carolina and the second largest banking center in the U.S. behind New York City, with a diversified industrial structure, low cost of business and a well-educated population base. It is positioned for long-term growth and expected to outpace the national average through 2015, according to economy.com.

"We have identified several excellent locations within some of the most attractive submarkets in this area, and expect to close our first couple of transactions soon," said Roberson. "Our plan calls for us to begin building models and selling homes by early fourth quarter this year, and we are excited to get started."