ORLANDO-One local executive says consolidations have already reduced the major players to a handful of large-scale companies, giving independents new opportunities to prove themselves to corporate customers.

ORLANDO-Called The Loop, the 33-acre project will mirror the developer's 500,000-sf, $85 million venture in suburban Boston that was developed at about $170 per sf. The project inflates Central Florida's retail inventory to over 47 million sf.

ATLANTA-The founder of Hoover, AL-based Retirement Specialists of the South buys the 16,500-sf, two-story office building in Hoover for $950,000.

MIAMI-Locally based Cornerstone Group Development Corp. is building the 188-unit Laguna Pointe Apartments one mile from a redevelopment area where $150 million in mixed-use ventures are planned over the next five years.