ATLANTA-Bill Palmer, who founded the first Applebee's in 1980 in Atlanta and owns 28 locations in Georgia, will pay Applebee's International Inc. $8 million or an average $1 million each for eight restaurants. The deal is expected to close in the 2Q.

GROVELAND, FL-Elected officials in this South Lake County city of 3,000 permanent residents dispute a state agency's position that urban sprawl will result from the development of 3,000 new homes in the near future.

JACKSONVILLE, FL-The 32-acre Southside hospital campus expects to break ground in two months on a 250,000-sf hospital and an 80,000-sf physicians' office building in the 1,022-acre Flagler Center at Interstate 95 and Old St. Augustine Road.

PALM COAST, FL-Based on the pre-sale of most of the 190 high-rise homes, Mountain Funding LLC says it is taking a calculated risk with its money to Bay Communities on the development of Surf Club III, an eight-story oceanfront venture, 100 miles north of Downtown Orlando.

ATLANTA-The 33-year old class C property in suburban Hapeville, GA boasted a 91% occupancy when it was sold by the Jerry S. Berez Trust to an affiliate of Atlanta-based Real Estate Investing & Consulting.

JACKSONVILLE, FL-The 32-acre Southside hospital campus expects to break ground in two months on a 250,000-sf hospital and an 80,000-sf physicians' office building in the 1,022-acre Flagler Center at Interstate 95 and Old St. Augustine Road.

ATLANTA-John A. Williams, the apartment REIT's largest shareholder and the company's former chairman, wants to regain control of the 32-year-old firm he founded and has told the SEC he will be asking stockholders to vote on five new directors at the May 22 annual meeting.

ORLANDO-The 1,080-room, 12-year-old French Quarter, which closed for six months in November 2001 for lack of business, will again close this week, while the 2,048-room, 11-year-old Riverside hotel will be closed in phases over the two-year renovation period.