ATLANTA-The California investor, who sold his 18,000 Atlanta multifamily units in 1997, buys the 18-month-old, 180-unit Grayson Park apartments near Emory University Medical Center in suburban Decatur, GA for $17.4 million or $96,667 per unit.

ORLANDO-Diana Mucha, president of M & V Builders Inc., takes over from Alan Hicks of the Cordish Co. as the Associated General Contractors of Central Florida Inc. backs its national group in urging the IRS to withdraw a proposal to tax off-road, mobile machinery used on construction sites.

ORLANDO-About 620 jobs are expected to be lost and an estimated 104,000 sf of office/flex space will go dark when Lexmark International Inc. vacates 50,000 sf in April at GranPark at South Park in south Orlando and UnitedHealth Group begins its shutdown in May at 255 Technology Park in suburban Lake Mary, FL.

ATLANTA-The Atlanta Regional Commission is reviewing a proposed venture by the Knight Group of Jonesboro, GA that would bring 290,000 sf of commercial, 350 apartments and 1,000 townhomes to the 15-year-old, 1,200-acre park at 505 Fayetteville Road.

ATLANTA-The locally based developer also moves R. Dary Stone, president of the firm's Texas operations, into a vice chairman's slot to focus on building strategic relationships and finding new business.

ORLANDO-Averaging about 95% occupancy during most of its existence, the slender, 10-story, 36,000-sf Metcalf Building at 100 S. Orange Ave. was sold for $3.8 million or $105.56 per sf. The new owners plan to invest another $1.5 million in interior upgrades.

TAMPA, FL-Net absorption for 2002 was a negative 106,716 sf but improved in the fourth quarter to a positive 34,453 sf. Still, property owners face another difficult year as vacancies continue to rise and competition increases, according to a new Grubb & Ellis analysis.

ATLANTA-Despite the current gloomy numbers, a sharp construction slowdown to 2.7 million sf in 2002 from 7.3 million sf in 2001 could help to stabilize Atlanta's 155 million-sf, 1,750-building market, according to a study by Bullock Mannelly Partners.