Friday, December 14, 2007

Out-of-staters harvesting 'Hometown' signatures

MIAMI - The Florida Chamber of Commerce has said Hometown Democracy is flying in even more out-of-state petition circulators to make up for a lack of local, grassroots support. The Chamber has learned that Hometown rehired a team of professional signature gatherers based outside of Florida and directed them to focus on petition gathering in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. This is in addition to the 10 out-of-state gatherers Hometown shipped in recently to work the Orlando area.

The Chamber is asking everyone in the commercial real estate industry to spread the word, particularly to those in the targeted areas of Orange, Broward and Dade counties. It urges anyone encountering petition gatherers anywhere in the state to contact Floridians for Smarter Growth at dpage@flsmartergrowth.org or to call 888-425-1234.

The Chamber asks for the date, time, location and number of circulators in any e-mail or phone message.

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source: frej.net

Metro Development buys 8,300 Lennar sites

TAMPA - In the largest land purchase in company history, Metro Development Group of Tampa has acquired 8,300 home sites in seven Florida counties from Lennar Homes, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The home sites are in Pasco, Brevard, Sarasota, Polk, DeSoto, Lee and Hillsborough counties and can be found in the following communities:

- Pasco - Epperson Ranch, 3,905 home sites on 1,700 acres.

- Lee - Stoneybrook North, 1,275 home sites on 741 acres.

- DeSoto - Stoneybrook Oaks, 1,249 home sites on 641 acres.

- Brevard - Chaparral, 850 home sites on 246 acres.

- Hillsborough - Waterleaf, 530 home sites on 140 acres.

- Polk - Leomas Landing, 393 home sites on 94 acres.

- Sarasota - Hidden Palms, 98 home sites on 41 acres.

According to Metro Development spokesman Rob Ahrens, the purchase is part of long-range acquisition strategies developed by the five-year-old company. Moreover, the Lennar deal increases by nearly 40% Metro Development’s total Florida holdings, which now stand at more than 30,000 home sites under its ownership or control.

“We have tremendous confidence in Florida and the resiliency of the state’s residential real estate market,” Ahrens said. “We know that current concerns about homebuilding will be resolved in the coming months, and when they are, we plan to be a major player in providing finished home sites to builders who will need them.”

Ahrens says the purchase was triggered by Lennar’s desire to convert many of its land holdings to cash, amid-the nationwide slowdown in the housing market.

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source: frej.net

Crosland launches $225M fund for land acquisitions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Crosland LLC has formed an investment fund with Northwestern Mutual as its partner. The partnership is making an equity commitment that will enable approximately $225 million of land acquisition, as well as potential land and vertical development totaling $1.5 billion.

To be deployed in conjunction with Crosland’s corporate capital investments and focused primarily on land acquisition, the Southeastern Investment Fund is designed to allow Crosland to pursue large-scale, longer-range developments of all types. However, it will primarily seek multiuse and mixed-use developments with residential, retail and/or office uses. The fund will also invest with Crosland in vertical development projects that may occur on land purchased by the fund. Land acquisition will be focused on urban infill redevelopment as well as outlying growth corridors.

The fund is managed by Jamie Dunn, Crosland’s vice president of investments, and Perry Reader, Florida division president. M3 Capital Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Crosland in the formation of the fund.

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source: frej.net

Colliers Dickinson marks 995-acre sale

JACKSONVILLE - Colliers Dickinson recently arranged the sale of 995 acres at the northeast quadrant of Pecan Park Road and I-95 in Jacksonville’s booming Northside. Rum East LLC (Benderson Development) purchased in excess of 995 acres for the development of a Regional Activity Center (RAC) to include office, retail, and 319 acres of industrial use land. Hobart Joost Jr., senior vice president, represented the seller, Bacardi Bottling Corp. This transaction closed for $20 million.

Benderson Development is headquartered in University Park and has regional offices in Buffalo, N.Y.; Rochester, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Springfield, N.J.

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source: frej.net

CCC, Contrarian to offer $200M in bridge loans

FORT LAUDERDALE - Cypress Creek Capital Inc.(CCC) and Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital Management will co-sponsor bridge loan financing to owners and acquirers of land and commercial, income-producing real estate in Florida. The companies have committed $200 million to be invested over the next 24 months.

“Today, traditional mortgage lenders are backing away from making loans due to the current real estate climate,” said Mitch Sinberg, vice president of real estate investments for CCC. “Our bridge loan program presents opportunities for new acquisitions and refinancing of existing properties in the Florida real estate market.”

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source: frej.net