Hovnanian Enterprises, the publicly-traded homebuilder that last year moved its corporate headquarters to the heart of Red Bank from Middletown, is scaling back its ambitions in the borough, according to a published report.

GlobeSt.com, a real estate industry publication, says Hovnanian is now planning on subleasing 66,000 square-feet of the 88,000 SF it had committed to use for itself in the PRC Corporate Plaza. That building, shown above, is under construction on West Front Street, just across the street for Hovnanian’s new 65,000 SF HQ.

Instead of taking all four floors for itself, the company will be using just one floor, according to GlobeSt.

What is Hov saying about this self-haircut? From the report:

“We are very excited with the expansion of our presence in Red Bank,” says president/CEO Ara Hovnanian in a prepared statement. A spokesman declined further comment on the reduced occupancy.

As reported here a month ago, Hovnanian acknowledged it was caught off guard by the swift decline in the value of its property holdings last year, leading to a $115 million fourth-quarter loss.

HOV shares closed Friday at $31.86, well off a 52-weak high of $52. Other shareholder-owned homebuilding companies have also suffered.

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