SANFORD, FL-After being placed on two years probation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for illegally spending $750,000 of federal funds, the four-member board refused to resign and instead worked out a deal in private with city commissioners to stay on until April 30. Sanford is 30 miles north of Downtown Orlando.

ORLANDO-Bob Vander Wiede, son-in-law of billionaire team owner Richard DeVos, acknowledges in a private meeting with a daily newspaper's executives his father-in-law's $10.5 million figure to help build a $250 million basketball arena was just a feeler.

ORLANDO-Inland Retail Real Estate Trust Inc. of Oak Brook, IL is shelling out $9.55 million or $157.74 per sf to Georgia-based Oak Vest for the five-month-old, 60,539-sf, 100%-leased West Oaks Towne Center in suburban Ocoee, FL.

TAMPA, FL-Inexpensive land and a growing volume of suburban commuters are bringing developers out of the woodwork on Interstate 75 but tenants aren't swarming yet, cautions a new report by Marcus & Millichap. Tampa is 80 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

ORLANDO-The locally based, 30-year-old celebrity-themed restaurant chain posted pretax profit of $69.4 million in fiscal 2000, up 3% from $67.23 million in the previous year, according to its parent, London-based Rank Group PLC.

TAMPA, FL-The Chicago firm paid View Properties Ltd. $1.8 million or $15,000 per acre (34 cents per sf) for a 120-acre tract at Bridgewater in Lakeland, FL, one of the most active distribution centers in Florida. Lakeland is 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando. Tampa is 80 miles west of Orlando.

TAMPA, FL-Inexpensive land and a growing volume of suburban commuters are bringing developers out of the woodwork on Interstate 75 but tenants aren't swarming yet, cautions a new report by Marcus & Millichap. Tampa is 80 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

ORLANDO-Smith Travel Research notes that the Lake Buena Vista, FL attractions hub, dominated by the 30,000-acre Walt Disney World enclave, shows the highest February occupancy at 81.3%, but that is still 4.2% under the 84.9% occupancy posted in the same month last year.