Mattamy Homes U.S. Group Reports 37 New Home Sales in Best Two Week Period since Spring of 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Mattamy Homes U.S. Group, the U.S. division of Canada’s largest home builder, with operations in Orlando, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Phoenix and the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, reported it sold 37 new homes over two weeks from April 17 through April 30.

Steve Parker, president of Mattamy Homes U.S. Group, said the sales represented the strongest two week period since March 2009.

Parker said the average sale price during the period was $260,000.

April figures were even better than March when Mattamy Homes sold 18 homes during one week and more than 65 during the month.

“We formulated our business model in response to the housing downturn with the aim of designing and building the highest value homes on the market today,” Parker said.

“We see significant improvement in economic conditions in each of our markets and we are seeing the best sales since the spring of 2009,” Parker said.

About Mattamy Homes U.S. Group

Mattamy Homes www.mattamyhomes.com expanded into the U.S. in 2003 and is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla. with divisions in Orlando, Jacksonville Phoenix, Minneapolis and Charlotte. The homebuilder, the largest and most active in Canada with annual revenues exceeding $1.3 billion was ranked among the highest of all homebuilders in the greater Toronto and Ottawa areas in a nationwide customer satisfaction survey conducted by J.D. Power Associates.

UCF Business Incubation Program, Fla. Economic Gardening Institute Participate in Osceola Entrepreneur Summit in Kissimmee

KISSIMMEE, Fla., -- The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program and the Florida Economic Gardening Institute were among the participants at the recent Osceola Entrepreneur Summit in Kissimmee to help link promising entrepreneurs with potential investors, job seekers and the public.

Rafael Caamano, site manager at the UCF Business Incubator Kissimmee, said Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) hosted the event and Caamano hopes similar summits will become a regular feature of Osceola’s economic development effort.

Caamano, whose roles at the event included serving on the selection committee, mentoring presenting companies and coordinating entrepreneur presentations, said strong attendance and excellent presentations by emerging entrepreneurial companies point to a solid base for “home grown” economic development in Osceola.

“Clearly the future of economic development in Osceola County and throughout Central Florida is to grow our own companies, provide them with the environment where they can succeed and reap the benefits in increased employment opportunities,” Caamano said.

Entrepreneur companies that made presentations during the Osceola Entrepreneur Summit include Biowoman LLC, a natural based beauty products company; Blast Family Sports Multi-plex, an affordable family entertainment complex; Cinematika, a technology company that focuses on emerging digital entertainment systems; Green World Products, LLC, producers of “DE-OIL-IT” a product that breaks petroleum waste products into harmless compounds; TRU-SAFE Technologies, Inc., which produces products that safeguard against electrical fires; and MemoreePlus, which specializes in digital memory cards.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 160 assisted emerging companies (including nearly 100 current clients) create over $800 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With eight – and soon nine – facilities opened across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, The City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and will be adding Volusia County. For more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.

Data Transfer Solutions earns three new contracts

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Data Transfer Solutions, LLC (DTS), based in downtown Avalon Park in east Orlando, recently earned three new contracts to support and advance transportation planning across the state.

A.M. “Trey” Fragala III, AICP, PMP, chief operating officer at DTS, said the Sarasota-Manatee Municipal Planning Organization (MPO) awarded a General Planning Consultant contract to DTS as part of the Renaissance Planning Group, which provides comprehensive municipal planning services in an ongoing project.

Fragala said DTS is a also key member of the Metrics Engineering Team that was awarded a $1.5 million IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) contract to provide district-wide statistics support in FDOT’s District Two headquartered in Lake City.

DTS provides similar support for FDOT districts across the state.

FDOT’s District Five office headquartered in Deland awarded DTS new work orders valued at more than $100,000 to provide geodatabase design, transmap portal and traffic data page setup, Fragala said.

In Fort Lauderdale, DTS is working with the FDOT District Four as well as all five Metropolitan Planning Organizations (Broward, Palm Beach, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin) to implement the firm’s Interactive TIP Application in all five MPOs. Currently the application is running in more than half the MPOs throughout the state of Florida. It is also deployed in MPOs in Nevada, California, Colorado and North Dakota.

DTS originally developed the proprietary TIP tools to support the MPOs in FDOT’s District Five. Fragala said the District Four implementation marks an important milestone for DTS. The firm now provides TIP tools for 18 of Florida’s 26 Municipal Planning Organizations.

Data Transfer Solutions provides asset management, geographic information systems (GIS), transportation planning/engineering, web design, database/software applications, and video and multimedia production services to local governments and regional and state agencies throughout the U.S.

“Top Tier” Staffing Company Selected to Participate in State’s GrowFL Economic Gardening Program

ORLANDO, Fla. – Moten Tate Inc., an Orlando-based staffing solutions company, has been selected to receive free technical assistance through the state-funded GrowFL program.

Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Kenneth Moten, Moten Tate Inc. focuses on talent acquisition, deployment and retention in the information and engineering fields.

“We assist our clients in answering their “who” question through recruiting, outsourcing, managing and direct hire,” Moten said.

As part of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, GrowFL was created in 2009 by the Florida Legislature and is based at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. When selecting businesses like Moten Tate Inc. the institute looks for ones that have the potential to be successful, according to Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute.

“Moten Tate Inc. is an ideal candidate for the program as it has strong leadership and it has already shown that it has the potential for growth,” said O’Neal, who also is associate vice president for the University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization.

GrowFL will support Moten Tate through a number of services, including access to market research and technology, strategy analysis, CEO roundtables and forums, database research and website optimization.

Moten said his company, which also has offices in the Washington, D.C. area in Rockville, Md. currently has 50 employees.

“We are honored to be recognized as a Grow Florida second stage company,” Moten said. “The tools and strategies given to us by an outstanding group of consultants through GrowFL will assist us in what we believe will be exponential growth.”

About Moten Tate: Moten Tate Inc., an Orlando-based staffing solutions company was founded in 1997 by President and CEO Kenneth Moten, Moten Tate Inc. focuses on talent acquisition, deployment and retention in the information and engineering fields. For more information on the company and its services, visit www.motentate.com.

About the Florida Economic Gardening Institute:

The Florida Economic Gardening Institute was created by the 2009 Florida Legislature as the Economic Gardening Technical Assistance Program to stimulate investment in Florida’s economy by providing technical assistance for expanding businesses in the state. Qualified companies must be engaged in the following sectors to receive no-cost technical assistance: Manufacturing; Finance & Insurance Services; Wholesale Trade; Information Industries; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Management Services; and, Administrative & Support Services. Additional information is available at www.GrowFL.com.