WL Homes LLC, the 161-year-old homebuilder, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors with plans to focus on luxury developments in Southern CA. The company blamed its filing on the collapse of the real estate market, saying its sales last year had fallen by about half from 2007. The company listed assets of more than $1 B and debt of $500M to $1B in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, DE.