ORLANDO-Longtime business associates Daryl M. Carter and Scott E. Crossman pay auto dealers Denis Moredo, Harris M. Ganey and Jan C. Ganey about $25 per sf for 0.59 acres at the southeast corner of Orange Avenue and Grant Street.

ORLANDO-David A. Siegel, Florida's high-profile leisure-product developer, tells Gov. Jeb Bush he would like to lease all or part of the 67-year-old, 300-acre outdoor attraction in Winter Haven, FL if the state buys the property from a group of seven owners.

ATLANTA-The brokerage team of Marc Robinson, Chris Johnston and Joshua Goldfarb tells GlobeSt.com that condo conversion deals, hot in the 1999-2000 period, are still surfacing, particularly among trophy properties in desirable areas.

ORLANDO-In the biggest transaction in its five-year history, the locally based REIT has contracted to buy the 8,271-room, 57-property RFS Hotel Investors Inc. of Memphis, TN for $383 million in cash ($12.35 per share) and the assumption of $304.6 million of total debt.

ATLANTA-The Chicago-based developer plans to break ground in June on an $8 million, high-velocity facility at Greenwood Industrial Park in Henry County and have it completed by spring 2004. Ford will lease the property for 10 years.

ATLANTA-Unanchored strip centers continue to be a hot commodity among cost-savvy investors, as the sale of the newly constructed, 31,500-sf property in suburban Stockbridge, GA by Crotts Enterprises to Network 21 Neighborhood Centers indicates.

TAMPA, FL-The London-based container shipping company decides to remain in Downtown Tampa at TIAA-CREF's 36-story tower for another three years at an estimated aggregate rent of $9.7 million. The lease is the largest class A office deal this year in west Central Florida.

ATLANTA-The Q1 exit of the federal General Services Administration from one million sf helped increase the metro Atlanta net absorption number to a negative 1.18 million sf, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of negative absorption.