Texas based home building company, D.R. Horton, put itself ahead of the pack as the highest bidder for the Claremont Unified School District’s 4.35 acres of real property located at 2080 N. Mountain Ave. on Tuesday with a $6.2 million bid during a public auction.

The CUSD board approved the offer at Thursday’s board meeting and authorized Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Lisa Shoemaker or her designee to execute the final purchase and sale agreement with D.R. Horton.

“Ultimately, 2 of the bids we received were conforming bids, meaning that they met all of the terms we established as necessary parameters for the sale of the property,” Ms. Shoemaker explained. “The other 4 bids were considered to be nonconforming. But they did have a variety of offers, but they changed the terms in a material manner so that they were considered nonconforming.”

Founded in 1978, D.R. Horton has operations in 25 states and provides mortgage financing and title services for homebuyers. According to its website, it is the largest homebuilder in the nation with 17,716 homes closed within a 12-month period that recently ended on December 31, 2011.

D.R. Horton won the bid by offering $6.2 million after Shea Homes refused to go higher than $6,100,500. The 2 companies had originally submitted written bids with D.R. Horton offering $5,810,000 and Shea Homes offering the district’s minimum bid of $5.8 million. Other participants such as the Wilson Company, Standard Pacific and City Ventures made counteroffers ranging from $2.8 to $5.1 million. 

Complete story in our Saturday edition.