NEWS & NOTABLES

MIAMI—Apollo Bank hired Eugene S. Font as senior vice president—commercial lending officer. Font brings over 25 years of banking experience to his new role. Prior to joining Apollo Bank, Font served as senior vice president of the corporate lending department at TotalBank. Before that, he worked for six years as a senior director of Troubled Asset Optimization at commercial realty firm NAI Miami, where he maintained a personal portfolio of clients who he served in investment property acquisition, and consulted on maximizing property revenue, financing and reducing construction costs. During his career, he has served at other banking institutions including Ocean Bank, BB&T, Espirito Santo Bank, and Southeast Bank.

MIAMI—Plaza Construction is opening an office in Central Florida as part of the firm's continued growth in the Southeast region. Todd Fultz, an industry veteran with more than 20 years of construction experience on projects in the hospitality, corporate office, multifamily, retail, aviation, education and sports market sectors, has been hired as part of Plaza's expansion into important markets in the region, including Tampa and Orlando, as a managing director. In this role, he will be responsible for leading the direction of Plaza's Central Florida operations.

DEAL TRACKER

JACKSONVILLE, FL—CBRE arranged the sale of Courtney Meadows, a 276-unit apartment community in Jacksonville. Located at 7820 Baymeadows Road East sold to Resource Real Estate Opportunity REIT. It's the firm's second transaction in the Jacksonville market. CBRE's Cliff Taylor, Joe Ayers and Shelton Granade represented the seller, Stonegate I. Johns Town Center, a newly-opened IKEA, Jacksonville's top medical facilities, and the Butler Corridor office submarket, the cities highest concentration of class A office space and corporate campuses.

WINTER PARK, FL—CBRE arranged the sale of a 432-unit, two-story community in the affluent Winter Park area of Orlando. Located at 5 Autum Way, the asset sold to a Massachusetts-based multifamily owner/operator. CBRE represented the seller Shelton Granade, Luke Wickham and Justin Basquill. Residents at Winter Park Commons are within 20 minutes of over 300,000 jobs.

PEMBROKE PINES, FL—HFF brokered the sale of Flamingo Pines Plaza, a 139,462-square-foot community shopping center shadow anchored by Walmart Supercenter in the Broward County community of Pembroke Pines. The HFF team marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Weingarten Realty Investors. JBL Asset Management purchased the asset. The 99.2%-leased Flamingo Pines Plaza is home to national and regional tenants, including Florida Technical College, USPS, Goodwill, Mattress Firm, Honey Baked Ham, State Farm and Sunrise Medical Group. Located at the intersection of two major thoroughfares, Pines Boulevard and Flamingo Road, the property is exposed to approximately 115,500 vehicles per day. More than 136,182 residents earning an average annual household income of $83,810 live within a three-mile radius of the center.

OCOEE, FL—American Landmark, formerly Electra America, acquired Landmark at Stafford Landing, a 522-unit apartment community located in Ocoee, about 15 minutes from Downtown Orlando. American Landmark now owns two multifamily communities in Orlando, including Enclave at Lake Ellenor, and approximately 60 multifamily communities in major metro areas across the Southeast. The company will invest approximately $4 million to enhance individual apartments, upgrade and expand amenities, and add new professional management services. The repositioned property will be renamed “The Avenue.”

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—Brokers at Berger Commercial Realty/CORFAC International completed 28,687 square-feet in lease transactions on behalf of landlords in Fort Lauderdale. Senior vice president Keith Graves represented 900 Southeast 3^rd Avenue in a lease renewal for 21,533 square-feet of office space to YMCA South Florida at the Bank United Building. Along with senior sales associate Jonathan Thiel, Graves also represented AKF3 SF Light Industrial, LLC in leasing 3,754 square-feet of industrial space to Willcott Engineering at Prospect Park I within Fort Lauderdale Commerce Center.

WESTON, FL—Cushman & Wakefield negotiated a 28,800-square-foot expansion lease with VPX Sports at Weston Commerce Park. The lease brings the Broward County warehouse and distribution center to full occupancy. Executive directors Chris Metzger, Richard F. Etner Jr., Christopher Thomson and director Matthew G. McAllister represented Mississippi-based owner EastGroup Properties in the lease negotiations. VPX Sports was represented by JLL's Sky Groden. Weston Commerce Park is a class A, rear-load warehouse and distribution building. The state-of-the-art asset features 30-foot clear heights, dock-high loading, drive-in doors, an Early Suppression Fast Response (ESFR) fire safety system, T5 lighting, 40-foot by 40-foot column spacing and a 118-foot truck court.

FORT LAUDERLDALE, FL—Marcus & Millichap sale of Cypress Creek Business Parks Portfolio, two properties totaling 123,872-square feet of office and office flex space located in Fort Lauderdale. The asset sold for $6.95 million. Douglas Mandell and C. Todd Everett represented the seller, a limited liability company, and secured the buyer, a local private partnership. Cypress Creek Business Parks Portfolio is located at 6555 North Powerline Road & 2700 West Cypress Creek. The property consists of two business parks with a total of six buildings on approximately 10.2 acres that include office, showroom and warehouse space. Cypress Creek Business Parks Portfolio's central position is critical as it is nearly equidistant between downtown Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

BUILDING BLOCKS

MIRAMAR, FL—Home2Suites by Hilton, part of Hilton's All Suites portfolio, opened its 200^th opened hotel. The site: Miramar. Designed for travelers who want to maintain their normal routine, the hotel features 101 suites and a range of value, tech-focused and eco-conscious amenities. Home2 Suites by Hilton Miramar Ft. Lauderdale aims to leverage Greater Fort Lauderdale's strong tourism sector, which is the area's second largest industry.