ORLANDO-Five million sf is vacant in the six submarkets monitored in the second half by four area brokerages. Downtown vacancies are at 12.4%, up from 9.5% in the same 2001 period. South Orlando is drowning at a 25.1% vacancy level, up from 15% a year ago.

ORLANDO-Real estate lawyers familiar with the special tax breaks tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity that lawsuits are expected to be filed this month by large landowners such as Chicago-based Pritzker family which owns the Hyatt Hotel chain; Walt Disney World Co.; Hilton Hotels Corp; and the Ginn Co.

ORLANDO-Bidding against an unknown investor, the Scottsdale, AZ-based lender bested its rival after 11 back-and-forth bids for the 102-unit, four-building Sheraton Vistana Resort at the 6,300-acre World Golf Village community between Jacksonville, FL and St. Augustine, FL, 150 miles north of Downtown Orlando.

ORLANDO-The Orlando developer paid Curry Ford Associates $3.1 million or $41.05 per sf for the 75,500-sf Curry Ford East and University Square Associates $3.35 million or $36.81 per sf for the 91,000-sf University Square Shopping Center.

ORLANDO-International Speedway Corp. of Daytona Beach, which owns over 12 million sf of motor sports facilities nationally, posted record second-quarter earnings.

ORLANDO-Sitting on the shores of Tampa Bay, the 130,000-sf, 99%-leased property was sold by Atlanta-based Watkins Group to Sun Point LLC for $4.75 million. The property is across the bay from St. Petersburg, FL and 80 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

ORLANDO-The influential Orlando Municpal Planning Board today examines a 338-unit venture being proposed on a 3.6-acre site by GDC Properties of Hawthorne, NY next to the 19-story, 380,000-sf One Orlando Centre, 800 N. Orange Ave.

MIAMI-Chicago-based Huron Ft. Myers LLC received an average $59,753 per unit for the 90%-plus-occupied properties in Ft. Myers and Naples, FL. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler brokered the transaction.