The company that hopes to develop a massive retirement community in the heart of the county is one of the largest homebuilders in the nation.

According to the Pulte Homes' Web site, Bill Pulte built his first home in Michigan more than 50 years ago. From those humble beginnings, the company has grown to a Fortune 500 Company with more than $11 billion in revenues last year.

The company employs more than 9,400 workers and has built more than 360,000 homes in the last 50 years in the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico and Argentina.

In 2001, the company merged with Del Webb Corporation, the leading developer of retirement communities. The company's headquarters is in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Del Webb Corporation become Del Webb Group of Pulte Homes and remained headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.

Del Webb is the nation's top builder of active adult communities for people age 55 and older through its flagship Sun City communities.

According to the Web site, the company operates 15 active adult communities in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Del Webb also operates two large multi-generational master-planned communities in Arizona and Las Vegas and several country club communities. Four of Del Webb's communities are currently ranked in the top 10 of the best-selling master planned communities in America.

The Del Webb Group is named after one of the leading developers of Las Vegas. Webb developed the Flamingo Resort in the city, along with several other buildings in the city, including City Hall, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

By 1960, Webb decided to develop large-scale retirement communities. He opened the first model homes in Sun City, Ariz., on New Year's Day, 1960 and had 100,000 people visit the homes over a three-day period.

Webb's idea landed him on the cover of Time in 1962, and the era of retirement communities was officially ushered into the national vocabulary.

Some of Pulte Homes recent rankings include: Ranked 23rd among the Top 50 Best Performing Companies in Business Week magazine's 2002 Performance Rankings of the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Pulte was the only homebuilder on the list. Ranked as a Top 30 stock with the best 30-year return in Money magazine in October, 2002. 2002 Builder of the Year, presented by Professional Builder magazine. Recipient of the 2001 and 2002 Summit Award for exceptional quality in construction and outstanding customer service to its new homebuyers. Listed in Professional Builder magazine's 101 Best Companies to Work For in 2001.