Ryland Homes Opens Two Story Tryon Model Home at Hucks Landing in Northeast Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Ryland Homes has opened the two-story Tryon model home at Hucks Landing, located on Elementary View Drive in Northeast Charlotte east of I-77.

Krista Long, vice president of sales and marketing at Ryland Homes in Charlotte, said the Tryon model home offers 3,038 square feet of living space priced from $206,990.

The two-story, four-bedroom Tryon model home offers two-and-a-half baths with a living room, dining room and study on the first floor and a loft/bonus room on the second floor that can be converted to a fifth bedroom, Long said. The home can expand to six bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Nine three and four bedroom floor plans are available at Hucks Landing ranging in size from 1,408 square feet of living space to 3,601 square feet and a two-car garage.

Altogether, Ryland Homes plans to build 36 new homes at Hucks Landing.

Visit www.ryland.com.

About Ryland Homes

With headquarters in Southern California, Ryland is one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and a leading mortgage-finance company. The company currently operates in 28 markets across the country and has built more than 275,000 homes and financed more than 230,000 mortgages since its founding in 1967. Ryland is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RYL.”

National Entrepreneur Center at Orlando Fashion Square to Celebrate Grand Opening Tuesday May 17 at 9 a.m.

ORLANDO, FLA. – If you think a major regional shopping mall isn’t the first place you’d go for help on launching your new business, think again. On Tuesday, May 17, the National Entrepreneur Center at Orlando Fashion Square Mall on East Colonial Drive near downtown Orlando will celebrate its grand opening starting at 9 a.m.

John Crossman, president of Crossman & Company, the local leasing agent for Orlando Fashion Square, said the 20,000 square foot National Entrepreneur Center (formerly Disney Entrepreneur Center on Robinson St. downtown) opening at Orlando Fashion Square is one of the most creative ideas he has seen in a long time.

“The nation’s economy is built on small business entrepreneurs, and small business entrepreneurs aren’t usually located in downtown office skyscrapers, they’re in the neighborhoods in the community,” Crossman said.

The opportunity to seek advice and assistance for an entrepreneurial idea at a regional mall is just brilliant, and my hat’s off to the National Entrepreneur Center for thinking outside of the box,” Crossman said.

Crossman said he is optimistic the opening of the National Entrepreneur Center will generate new traffic at Orlando Fashion Square, the Central Florida area’s first regional mall. “Retailing patterns are changing,” Crossman said. “The economy is part of the reason, but there are others — the wave of baby boom retirements, the emergence of online retail sales, and a new generation of young people for whom the recession will mark a major milestone,” he said.

“People are thinking differently about their retail purchases and their retailing habits,” Crossman said. “Retail locations are changing to meet new demands, and the National Entrepreneur Center’s Orlando Fashion Square Mall location is an outstanding example of the trend,” he said.

Leasing agent for the mall, Whitaker Leonhardt said “There are many more opportunities for community groups, business service tenants, and non-profit organizations to lease space at Orlando Fashion Square Mall. The National Entrepreneur Center sets the precedent for the mall to continue to add more community-minded tenants to the mall’s existing retail line up.

About The National Entrepreneur Center

The National Entrepreneur Center is a public/private partnership established in 2003 to support and assist small business development in Central Florida. The center houses a variety of non-profit business support organizations and is funded by Orange County, Walt Disney World Resort, The University of Central Florida, The City of Orlando, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Regions Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Banco Popular, The Orlando Magic, Bank First, Orlando Utilities Commission, and Bright House Business Solutions.

Organizations affiliated with the National Entrepreneur Center are: The African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, The UCF Small Business Development Center, The Central Florida Disability Chamber, The National Assn. of Women business Owners, The UCF Business Incubation Program, The British American Chamber of Commerce, The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, The Hispanic Business Initiative Fund, SCORE, The Urban League of Central Florida, The Black MBA Assn, and the US Dept. of Commerce.

About Orlando Fashion Square/PREIT

Orlando Fashion Square is owned and operated by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. Founded in 1960 and one of the first equity REITs in the U.S., PREIT has a primary investment focus on retail shopping malls and power centers. Currently, the company’s retail portfolio is approximately 34 million square feet and consists of 56 properties, including 38 shopping malls, 14 strip and power centers, and four properties under development. The company’s properties are located in 13 states in the eastern half of the United States, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. PREIT is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa. The company’s Web site can be found at www.preit.com. PREIT is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol PEI.

About Crossman & Company

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Crossman & Company is a commercial real estate brokerage firm that specializes in the retail industry. Currently their portfolio under leasing and/or management exceeds 150 shopping centers throughout the Southeast US. Founded in 1990, Crossman & Company focuses solely on landlord representation and serves clients including Publix, PREIT, and GE. Please visit www.crossmanco.com, or call 407-423-5400 for more information.

Mercantile Capital Corporation Best First Quarter Ever is Lead-in to Projected Major Loans in May

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. --- Mercantile Capital Corporation, which earlier reported its best first quarter ever in 2011 with 15 commercial property loans to finance projects that total more than $54.8 million — a 44.6 percent increase over the same period in 2010 — projects record or near record transactions scheduled for May.

Chris Hurn, chief executive officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation said seven commercial loans scheduled to close in May will finance real estate projects valued at more than $11.7 million in three states. Mercantile Capital Corporation closed two loans in April for projects that total more than $1.7 million in Massachusetts and Illinois.

Mercantile Capital Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Old Florida National Bank, is one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities. Additional information about Mercantile can be found at www.504Experts.com and www.504blog.com.

ICI Homes Earns first place Parade of Homes Award for Islander Luxury Model Home at Avilla in Kissimmee

ORLANDO, Fla. --- ICI Homes, which ranks as one of the nation’s top 100 luxury home builders and developers, earned a first place award in the recent Central Florida Parade of Homes, for its Islander II luxury model home at Avilla, a gated community in Kissimmee.

Rosemary Messina, vice president of sales and marketing at ICI Homes, said the Islander II model home won a first place award for luxury homes priced from $300,000 to $350,000.

ICI Homes is building 81 estate homes at Avilla that range in size from 2,500 square feet of living space to 3,500 square feet in upscale California contemporary design that includes 18 inch ceramic tile floors, tiled roofs, brick pavers, and lush landscaping, with decorative mailboxes and streetlamps throughout the community.

Avilla features a community swimming pool with a large covered lanai, tot lot, tennis and basketball courts. New estate homes at Avilla are priced from $300,000 to $498,000.

Avilla is located on Swoop Circle in Kissimmee south of Osceola Parkway and west of John Young Parkway.

Crossman & Company Executives to Play Starring Role at Upcoming ICSC Convention in Las Vegas

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Crossman & Company, the Orlando-based commercial property firm that ranks as one of the largest retail property specialists in the Southeast, will play a big role at the upcoming International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Recon Convention in Las Vegas starting May 22.

John Crossman, president of Crossman & Company, said top executives at Crossman & Company have earned speaker spots at the convention.

Crossman, associate Whitaker Leonhardt, and Justin Greider, vice president and director of leasing, will speak on the First Timer’s Orientation Panel, May 22, Crossman said.

Courtney Kowalchuk, vice president of leasing will head a breakfast roundtable on May 23 with an interesting topic: “Finding Tenant’s Where None Exist — Creative Ways to Lease Retail Space.”

Kowalchuk said the panel’s discussion will cover finding temporary and short term tenants, working with the public sector and using social media.

Senior associate Daniel Germano will head a breakfast roundtable May 23 for college students: “How to Make the Most of ICSC and Recon.”

“We’re going to focus on how to find contacts at Recon that will lead to a job in the industry,” Germano said.

About Crossman & Company:

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Crossman & Company is a commercial real estate brokerage firm that specializes in the retail industry. Currently their portfolio under leasing and/or management exceeds 150 shopping centers throughout the Southeast US. Founded in 1990, Crossman & Company focuses solely on landlord representation and serves clients including Publix, PREIT, and GE. Please visit www.crossmanco.com, or call 407-423-5400 for more information.