Del Webb plans Virginia project

     Associated Press
      SUN CITY, Ariz. -- Del Webb Corp. is discussing plans for a Sun City retirement community in the area of Williamsburg, Va., which would be built after a community being considered in the Chicago area.
      The Phoenix-based company has several thousand acres under option near Williamsburg, according to Phil Dion, its chairman and chief executive officer.
      He spoke with reporters Tuesday at a briefing preceding release of the company's earnings report. Webb expects to report record sales and earnings for its fiscal year ending June 30.
      In addition to a Sun City development being considered for the Chicago area, Dion said Webb is:
      -- expanding its Roseville, Calif., Sun City community with additional land in nearby Lincoln;
      -- planning a 5,000-acre land trade with the federal Bureau of Land Management that will allow it to expand south of Las Vegas;
      -- making plans for big tracts ready to use in Prescott Valley, about two hours north of Phoenix, and in Cottonwood, an hour farther north.
      In Prescott Valley, the company controls two tracts, one of 1,200 acres, "that will include a major component of Coventry homes," the family housing that Webb has built in scattered developments around Phoenix.
      There's an additional 4,500 acres in Prescott Valley that will take much longer to develop.
      "We're convinced we could do a Sun City-type project there and be successful with it," despite the lower temperatures and prospect of winter snow, Dion said.
      Webb also will move ahead by decade's end with its massive Villages at New River project about 30 miles north of Phoenix. That is a family community on both sides of Interstate 17.
      Webb has opened nine Sun Cities. Besides Arizona's, the others are in Nevada, Texas, California and South Carolina.