Four small deals set the tone for a possible pattern in the first quarter of 2003. In the largest of the transactions, CB Richard Ellis Inc. broker David Murphy closed a $5 million, 366,000-sf deal at the former 11-building van conversion headquarters of Mark VIII near Ocala, FL. Hydra Spa Inc. of Clearwater, FL purchased the property for about $13.66 per sf.

In other transactions, the Carvalho Family Trust bought a 43,748-sf warehouse at 1333 Pine Ave., Orlando, from Parrot Development Inc. for $1.75 million, or $40 per sf. Chuck McNulty of the McNulty Group negotiated for the seller.

Parrot Development paid Amdev Properties Inc. $2.05 million or $126.39 per sf for a 16,220-sf building in Cambridge Square office park in Longwood, FL. McNulty also brokered this transaction.

Helmly Furniture of Central Florida Inc. acquired the 12,000-sf, former Sacks grocery store in suburban Winter Garden, FL from Percy Bell for $625,000, or $52.05 per sf. Helmly plans to retrofit the property and lease it to small retailers. Steve Porter of Duke Properties brokered both sides of the transaction.

In her most recent assessment of the industrial investment market in metro Orlando, Trammell Crow Co. analyst Lisa M. DeVore says "industrial investment interest continues, though actual investment activity thus far has occurred at levels below that of recent years."