On Dec. 30, the Michigan-based homebuilder sold 900 acres it owned in the 5,000-acre Wiregrass Ranch, according to documents filed this week with Pasco County. The sale price was $5 million - a $31 million loss from what Pulte spent to acquire the land during the mid-2000s housing boom.

Pulte sold to Sierra BBD Properties LLC, a company set up Dec. 16 by the Tampa-based developers who own 510 acres a few miles to the west, where Cypress Creek Town Center is under development.

The Wiregrass purchase nearly triples the Sierra family's stake in what has been one of Pasco's fastest growing communities.

As part of the deal with Pulte, the Sierras also paid about $4 million to take over Pulte's road obligations. That includes a county mandate to extend Chancy Road across Wiregrass Ranch between Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Meadow Pointe Boulevard.

Sierra family members did not return calls for comment about the purchase.

Pinellas County-based real estate analyst Marvin Rose said Friday that the Sierra family likely is taking the long view on the property, given the nearly nonexistent market for undeveloped land.

"I imagine that they have a 10-year horizon," Rose said. "It's a low price, but at the same time, there's not much value in undeveloped land right now."

Pulte and its Divosta subsidiary paid the Porter family more than $35.6 million at the height of the housing boom for the Wiregrass Ranch acreage Pulte sold last week. The Pasco County Property Appraiser's Office estimates the land's value if developed at $23.6 million.

The property, which is used for grazing, is appraised as agricultural land worth $163,594, records show.

Scott Campbell, Pulte's Tampa representative, confirmed Friday the sale amounted to all of Pulte's interests in Pasco.

During the building boom, Pulte was on tap to be the master developer for the entire Wiregrass Ranch, which stretches from State Road 54 to State Road 56 between Bruce B. Downs and Meadow Pointe boulevards.

The Porter family envisioned a city-sized project that included a hospital, schools and a de facto downtown for the largely unfocused growth then occurring in Wesley Chapel.

For its part, Pulte planned to build three communities, including a Del Webb retirement community, a traditional neighborhood-style project by Divosta and a more conventional subdivision. Over time, Pulte was to develop the rest of the ranch's residential land.

The collapse of the housing market smothered those projects before they could get started. So far, Shops at Wiregrass, an outdoor mall built by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, remains the lone project to take root at Wiregrass Ranch.

Pulte and the Porter family quietly parted ways in the summer of 2007. Land designated for Del Webb went back to the Porters in exchange for land elsewhere on the ranch, Pulte held on to the rest of its original Wiregrass land. In January 2008, Campbell said the company had no plans to sell.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.