Orlando Agents, Lenders Cash In On Boom

While the sun is definitely setting on the Florida real estate boom, a lot of companies made good use of the extended daylight, if you know what we are saying. We are saying sales were record-shattering last year for a number of Florida firms. The Orlando Sentinel reports the following monetary successes from 2005 in today’s edition.

THE HEAVY HITTERS

• CB Richard Ellis handled $5.2 billion in apartment sales last year, with Florida-wide efforts consisting of 141 properties and 44,000 apartments.
• Bob Miller and Shelton Granade said their transactions in Central Florida included 51 properties totaling more than $1.6 billion.
• The local division of Avatar Properties posted 306 new-home sales in the fourth quarter and finished the year with 1,352 sales totaling $416 million.
• DeLuca Homes posted sales of more than $118 million last year.
• In 2005, M/I Homes sold a record 580 houses in 10 Orlando-area developments.
• Vance Realty Group posted $23.1 million in sales in January, a figure that was boosted in large part by a commercial sale, the Best Western Hotel near the airport. Last year, the brokerage totaled $214.3 million in sales, a new record.
• Kelly Price & Co. had a record $200 million in sales a year ago.
• Kancor Construction, a division of Lexon Homes of Orlando that specializes in remodeling and commercial real estate, posted more than $8 million in sales last year alone.

THE MOVERS & SHAKERS

• Scott Bell and Jeff Streep, of Carter Real Estate in Orlando, represented the seller on the three-acre block of downtown Orlando real estate, directly south of the proposed 400 North Orange project. Despite being under contract to one buyer for $7.75 million, the property ended up getting sold to another buyer at $10.775 million.
• Thomas A. Byers and David J. Patten of Commercial Mortgage Advisors in Orlando handled $8 million on two area properties — a $4 million loan was placed on an industrial building occupied by Universal Technical Institute at 9751 Delegates Drive in Orlando Central Park, while another $4 million loan was arranged on an office building in east Orlando.
• Tom Cook Commercial is handling the $12 million sale of the 10-story Metcalf Building in downtown Orlando.
• Aztec Group, Inc., of Miami, is converting the Siesta Lago apartments in Orlando to condominiums. The company borrowed $15.8 million for the acquisition and condo conversion of the 125-unit property.

BUILDING UP THE PROPERTIES (AND THE CAPITAL)

• Roger B. Kennedy Inc., Orlando, is the contractor for the $14.2 million Palm Pointe condominiums at Palm Coast in Flagler County.
• Lamm & Co. is the contractor on the 2,550-square-foot Eola Wine Co. store on Park Avenue in downtown Winter Park.
• Southern Construction Group is handling the $2.2 million administration and customs building at Orlando Executive Airport.
• CORE Construction is managing construction of the Adventist Care Center Nursing Home at Florida Hospital in Orlando.
• La Rosa Development Co. plans to develop a 50,000-square-foot office building on Celebration Boulevard in Celebration in Osceola County.
• Aagaard-Juergensen completed the $1 million, 16,000-square-foot sports building and science lab for the First Baptist Church of Central Florida.
• Roetzel & Andress, a law firm based in Akron, Ohio, rented 3,101 square feet of office space at Capital Plaza Two in downtown Orlando. Catherine Reeves of Highwoods Properties represented the landlord.