ORLANDO-George L. Livingston, founder/president of Realvest Partners Inc. in suburban Maitland, FL and an economics graduate, thinks the current economic slowdown may last 24 to 36 months and may be deeper than most expected.

ORLANDO-Robert Miller's new strategy would end a two-year pending lawsuit by the State Attorney's office over funding squabbles and allow Osceola County to create a special taxing district to float bonds that would pay for the $1.1 billion project.

ORLANDO-Locally-based CNL Hospitality Corp. pays Marriott International Inc. $94,545 per room for the 1,100-room package at the fast-developing 300-acre, master-planned community near Walt Disney World.

ORLANDO-Golfer Tiger Woods, tennis stars Monica Seles and Andre Agassi and football legend Joe Montana are suing locally-based Planet Hollywood International Inc. to have their photos and memorabilia removed from the menus and walls of the All Star Cafe chain being phased out nationally. The athletes are also asking unspecified money damages for not having been a part of Planet Hollywood's bankruptcy reorganization plan approved earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

ORLANDO-After raising its ownership stake in the first quarter to 14.3%, the Asian investor's latest purchase of 275,000 shares for $3 million raises its interest to 18% in the locally-based themed restaurant chain.

TALLAHASSEE, FL-Lakeland, FL millionaire C.C. Dockery is pushing Gov. Jeb Bush to create the Florida High Speed Rail Authority, an agency that anti-train legislators say may decimate or bankrupt the state's entire transportation infrastructure budget.

ORLANDO-Rich DeVos, the billionaire owner of the local National Basketball Association franchise, says the city-owned, 7,000-sf TD Waterhouse Centre is too old, too small and too outdated to draw big-spending corporate sponsors.

ORLANDO-The brokerage is leasing 5,000 sf for five years at the 300,000-sf, 80%-occupied Thornton Park Central, a two-year-old mixed-use, infill venture that offers suburban amenities in a Downtown ambience. The estimated value of the lease is $500,000.