ATLANTA-Home builder PulteGroup Inc. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Detroit to Atlanta. The board of directors of one of the country's largest homebuilders approved the corporate relocation plan on Thursday and has reportedly notified Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed about its relocation plans.

People familiar with the company's plans say Pulte is looking for between 80,000 and 100,000 square feet of office space in the Atlanta area to house approximately 300 employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pulte was founded in Detroit in 1950 by William J. Pulte and five of his high-school friends. The firm now operates in 60 markets across the US under the Centex, Pulte Homes, DiVosta Homes and Del Webb brand names.

Although Pulte officials did not comment on the report in the Wall Street Journal, PulteGroup spokesman James Zeumer confirmed to WWJ Newsradio 950 that the company's board of directors approved the move and the company is now looking for office space in the Atlanta area, according to a report by CBS Channel 62 in Detroit.

“This was a very, very hard decision for us,” Zeumer says. “Bill Pulte started this company in Michigan in 1950, so you're looking at more than six decades of history. We certainly appreciate that, but what really has to be noted here is that over a third of our business now, of our closings in 2012 took place in the southeast.”

Zeumer says the company is leaving its Bloomfield Hills headquarters, which employs approximately 370 people, but the Michigan division operations will remain in Michigan.

“This was about an opportunity for us to get a little bit closer to our customers and where our investments are being made, and that was really the focus and the genesis for the decision,” he says. See story in the Wall Street Journal.