press release

Wakefield Development Company On Pace for Record Sales Year

RALEIGH, N.C., May 14, 2004 – If it sustains its current sales pace, Wakefield Development Company will generate over 1,100 new home sales this year, according to John Myers, director of operations for the Raleigh-based company.

Through the first four months of 2004, the company’s five communities in Raleigh and Wake County have generated 333 new home sales for over $81.3 million. Even more impressive, these communities have combined for over 100 sales in both March and April.

At that pace, the company will end 2004 with over 1,100 new home sales – a 25 percent increase over the 758 sales the company’s communities recorded in 2003, Myers said.

The company currently has five communities under development, including Wakefield Plantation and Bedford at Falls River in North Raleigh, the Eagle Ridge golf community in southern Wake County, Cornerstone off US 70 in West Raleigh and Edgewater in east Raleigh.

Wakefield Development is the largest developer of residential communities in the Research Triangle area, with of over 8,000 homesites in Raleigh and Wake County, representing a build-out value in excess of $250 million.

The company has begun development of a new community in Burlington called Mackintosh on the Lake, consisting of more than 1800 homesites, with townhomes starting in the $120,000s and single-family homes priced from $140,000 to over $750,000, Myers said. The first new homes should be underway in Mackintosh by October, he said.

– Bedford Takes First –

Highlighting the company’s 2004 performance is the emergence of Bedford at Falls River, the 608-acre traditional neighborhood community off Falls of Neuse Road in North Raleigh.

For the first time since it opened in late 2002, Bedford claimed the honor as the top-selling community in the company, generating 125 sales for $28.5 million from January through April. That pushed it ahead of traditional leader Wakefield Plantation, which had 100 sales for $32 million.

Wakefield Plantation has been the fastest-selling community in Raleigh history over the last five years, with over $500 million in sales. Last year it became the first community in the Triangle to top the $100 million mark in a single year, with 304 sales for $104.3 million.

Results from the company’s other communities through April included 37 sales for $8.3 million at Eagle Ridge, 38 sales for $6.2 million at the just-opened Edgewater community, and 33 sales for $6.3 million at Cornerstone, Myers said.

Owned by Steve and Art Sandler of Virginia Beach, Wakefield Development is the Triangle’s largest developer of residential communities, with a portfolio of over 8,000 homesites and a total build-out value over $2.5 billion.

Since entering the Triangle market in early 1998 with the purchase of Wakefield Plantation in North Raleigh, Wakefield Development has generated over $750 million in new home sales, including nearly $482 million at Wakefield Plantation.

.