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.

Tolaris Realty Group Expands to Sarasota area, Reports Record Transactions in April

LAKE FOREST, Fla. –Tolaris Realty Group, which sells homes throughout Orange, Seminole, Lake and Volusia Counties, has expanded to Sarasota County.

Rick Bavec, president of Tolaris Realty Group, said the real estate company located off SR 46 in Lake Forest west of Sanford now employs 22 associates in five counties.

Bavec said he expects to see record sales transactions in April.

EPIC Engineering Coaches Super 7 Team of Elementary School Students to Trophy in State Robotics Competition

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Central Florida’s Super 7 team of Seminole County elementary school students from Stenstrom Elementary, Evans Elementary, Tuskawilla Montessori and St. Luke’s Lutheran School earned the “Rising Star” trophy in FIRST LEGO League state championship competition recently.

Sponsored and coached by EPIC Engineering and Consulting Group, (EPIC) at the University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program, the Super 7 team designed, built and programmed a LEGO-based robot for the competition.

EPIC chief executive officer Prasad Chittaluru, coached the seven member team, including two of his own children.

“The theme for this year’s competition was Biomedical Engineering and the kids chose the central nervous system as their focus,” Chittaluru said.

“The kids researched and learned about the diseases of the nervous system and chose to study MS, a disease that can cause many problems such as blurred vision, loss of balance, slurred speech, numbness, extreme fatigue, memory problems, paralysis and blindness,” Chittaluru explained.

Using a programmable computer motor module and a defined set of LEGO parts, the Super 7 team designed, built, programmed and tested a LEGO robot from scratch that can autonomously perform up to 12 tasks in 2.5 minutes.

“It was very sophisticated work. I had a blast coaching these wonderful kids and learned with them,” Chittaluru said.

“The kids did everything from design to construction and all the programming in the computer,” said Shri Varadarajulu, co-coach and a team parent.

They had so much fun doing it that they are already planning on competing in next year’s competition,” Varadarajulu added.

“These kids are very bright and hard working and did an excellent job competing. Now we want to make it to the national competition,” she added.

The team was also supported by AMD and the ASCE East Central Florida Branch.

About EPIC Engineering & Consulting Group, LLC

EPIC Engineering & Consulting Group, LLC (EPIC) is a Central Florida-based engineering and IT solutions provider. EPIC simplifies their clients' operations by streamlining business processes, eliminating redundancies in data capture, analysis and retrieval, and assisting them in transforming their business information into actionable intelligence resulting in saving time and money. They apply their decades of experience in business process optimization and enterprise software applications development to designing and implementing powerful yet simple to use solutions for the public and private sector organizations, human services agencies and utilities. For more information visit www.epicgroupllc.com.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program:

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 160 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.

Crossman & Company Negotiates New and Renewal Leases totaling 6,638 Square Feet at Retail Centers in Winter Park

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Crossman & Company, one of the largest retail leasing and management firms in the Southeast, recently completed four lease agreements at Aloma Shopping Center and the Shoppes of Aloma in Winter Park.

Courtney Kowalchuk, vice president of leasing at Crossman & Company, negotiated all four transactions representing the landlords.

Two renewal agreements at Aloma Shopping Center on Aloma Avenue just east of Lakemont Drive included Coast Dental Services, Inc. with a five-year renewal agreement for 2,500 square feet at 2063 Aloma Ave. and H&R Block Eastern Enterprises, Inc. who renewed its lease of 1,800 square feet for three years at 2205 Aloma Avenue.

At the Shoppes of Aloma, Kowalchuk negotiated two new three-year leases for 1,169 square feet to Ocean Blue at 2246 Aloma Avenue and Florida Blood Centers, Inc. at 2242 Aloma Avenue

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.

NAI Realvest Negotiates New Long Term Lease for 4,800 Square Foot Retail Building in Altamonte Springs

MAITLAND, Fla. – NAI Realvest recently negotiated a new long-term lease agreement for the 4,800 square foot retail building at 802 E. Altamonte Drive, west of SR 427 in Altamonte Springs.

Robert Blackwell, SIOR principal at the firm who brokered the transaction, said tenant Tampa-based New South Windows leased the space for five years.

The landlord is Kin Properties, Inc. of Boca Raton.

About NAI Realvest:

NAI Realvest in Orlando, covering all of Central Florida, is a fully integrated commercial real estate operating company specializing in brokerage, development, investment, leasing and management, consulting and research services in the U.S. and worldwide. NAI Global is an international commercial real estate network with over 350 offices spanning the globe. Since 1978, clients have built businesses on the power of NAI Global’s expanding network. Extensive services include multi-site acquisitions and dispositions, sublease, tenant representation, lease administration and audit, investment services, due diligence and related consulting and advisory services. To learn more, visit www.NAIRealvest.com.

Meritage Homes is offering Three New Floor Plans at Overlook at Lake Louisa in Clermont

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Meritage Homes now has three new floor plans available at The Overlook at Lake Louisa on Lake Louisa Rd. off U.S. 27 in Clermont.

Brian Kittle, director of sales for Meritage Homes in Orlando, said the new floor plans range from the six-bedroom Kerrville with 4,153 square feet of living area to the Del Rio, with eight bedrooms in 5,107 square feet of living area.

Homes at the Overlook at Lake Louisa range in size from priced from $169,990 to $246,990.

First Green Bank of Eustis to Open New LEED Platinum-registered Headquarters in Mount Dora in June

EUSTIS, Fla. – First Green Bank, one of the first banks of its kind in the U.S. to focus on positive environmental and social responsibility while operating as a traditional community bank, will open its new headquarters in June at 18251 U.S. 441 in Mount Dora.

The new headquarters is being built to the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, seeking a LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Kenneth E. LaRoe, chairman and chief executive officer of First Green Bank, said the new 11,000+ square foot facility aspires to be only the second privately-owned building in Florida certified with the LEED Platinum Certification, and the only bank denoted as such.

Schmid Construction of Clermont is general contractor for the new facility.

First Green Bank, which opened facilities in Eustis and Clermont in February 2009, has been profitable since October 2010, LaRoe said.

Currently, First Green Bank reports assets valued at more than $133 million.