ORLANDO-Orange County comptroller Martha O. Haynie blames lower revenue to hoteliers from discounted room rates as the factor behind the July collection of $7.67 million, down from $8 million in June and below collections from July 2002 through February 2003.

ATLANTA-The locally based REIT will be paying a total special cash dividend of $100.3 million, or $2.07 per share, on Sept. 22 to holders of record on Sept. 15. Taxable gains from the sale of four projects triggered the dividend.

MERRITT ISLAND, FL-After seven months of negotiations, largely due to an environmental issue, Equity Investment Group Merritt Island LP has sold the 17-tenant, 100%-leased Shoppes of Victoria Square to Victoria Square Partner LLC for $5.98 million, or about $54.04 per sf.

ATLANTA-Ending a banner nine months of investment sales, the locally based REIT sold the 176,000-sf retail center in suburban Atlanta to a fund managed by New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. for $45 million.

ATLANTA-The Chicago-based office property owner brings the 233,323-sf, 19-year-old RiverEdge Place to 50% occupancy and raises the level at the 282,702-sf, eight-building DeKalb Technology Center to 88%.

SANFORD, FL-The 500-store Union, NJ-based retailer opens its sixth location in Central Florida at the eight-year-old, 207,374-sf Gateway Plaza in this Orlando suburb. The 15-year lease has an aggregate value of $3.1 million.

ATLANTA-The infighting this year over former chairman John Williams' unsuccessful attempt to regain control of the company also is blamed for the departure of J.C. Shaw and Bill Parker as directors emeritus, sources in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank resigned as a director in May.

HAINES CITY, FL-Baseball City, the former spring training camp site of the Kansas City Royals, is being redeveloped as a 365-acre mixed-use venture planned for 2.5 million sf of retail, commercial and business park space south of Interstate 4 and US 27, north of here and 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando.