University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program Names Melissa Wasserman to Site Manager of Orlando Business Development Center

ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program has named Melissa Wasserman as permanent site manager at the Orlando Business Development Center, located at 3218 E. Colonial Dr. in Orlando.

Gordon Hogan, director of operations for the UCF Business Incubation Program, said Wasserman earned her MBA Degree from the University of Central Florida in 2007 after completing undergraduate work at the University of California at Davis. She also earned a certificate in Technology Commercialization from UCF.

Wasserman joined the UCF Department of Research and Commercialization two years ago, Hogan said. She formerly served as a program assistant for the Office of Research and Commercialization and the UCF Business Incubation Program under Dr. Tom O’Neal. She was also was a part-time site manager of the Orlando Business Development Center for the past 6 months.

The Center is a general business incubator that supports high growth potential startup companies.

Contacts:
Melissa Wasserman, Site Manager/OBDC, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-882-2296 or mwasserm@mail.ucf.edu
Gordon Hogan, Director of Operations, UCF Incubation Business Program, 407 882-1120, bizdev@mail.ucf.edu
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com

About the UCF Incubation Program:
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the 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, Lake County, the City of Leesburg and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/

Time is Running Out to Take Advantage of $8,000 Federal Tax Credit for First-Time Home Buyers

ORLANDO, Fla. - Time is running out for first-time home buyers to take advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit at Heritage Green in Providence in Polk County and Wyndham Lakes Estates in South Orlando, two ABD Development communities. The federal tax credit ends on Nov. 30

At Heritage Green at Providence Golf and Country Club on U.S. 17-92 in the Loughman-Davenport area, ABD Development recently completed two ready-to-move-in luxury homes designed with smaller, smarter features with more affordable pricing and lower energy costs, said David Kohn, president of ABD Development Company.

The new 2,500 square foot luxury homes are priced in the $350,000 range.

Three ready-to-move-in luxury homes at Windsor Landing at Wyndham Lakes Estates, located off Town Center and Landstar Blvds. in southeast Orlando, are priced from the $400s, Kohn said.

The Riviera model home, which offers four bedrooms in 3,100 square feet of living space, is priced at $450,000. Only 20 home sites remain for sale at Windsor Landing, Kohn said.

For more information, contact:
David Kohn, President, ABD Development Company 407-370-6400
Alene Raskin, Marketing Manager, ABD Development Company 407-370-6400
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

Star Tower luxury condominium in downtown Orlando reports it sold more than half of its luxury units

ORLANDO, Fla. — Star Tower, the luxury condominium located in downtown Orlando, reports it has sold more than half of its condominiums.

Steve Kodsi, president of Historic Creations Design Group, developers of Star Tower, said remaining units are priced starting from the mid $300s and range in size from 1,700 square feet of living space to 2,000 square feet.

Kodsi also said three 3,600 square foot penthouse condominiums at Star Tower are priced at more than $1 million.

For more information, contact
Steve Kodsi, President Historic Creations Design Group, 407-422-4664
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

Royal Custom Homes starts construction of six town homes at Lake Burden in Windermere, a master planned community by Royal Palm

ORLANDO, Fla. — Royal Palm’s master planned community of Lake Burden off SR 535 and Reams Rd. in Windermere will see construction of a new building with six town homes built by Royal Custom Homes within the next 20 days.

Albert Kodsi, president of Royal Palm, the developer of Lake Burden, said three of the town homes have already been sold.

New town homes at Lake Burden are priced from $199,000.

Amenities at Lake Burden include tennis courts, open space playgrounds, ball fields and lakeside gazebos. A pool and clubhouse will get underway later this year.

For more information, contact:
Albert Kodsi, President, Royal Palm 407-294-7931
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

Grande Oaks at Heathrow, Kolter Homes to Host Open House Event Sept. 26 to Showcase New Designs and 13 Ready-to-Move-In Townhomes

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Grande Oaks at Heathrow will showcase 13 new luxury two and three story, ready-to-move-in townhomes at an open house event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26.

A lunch buffet will be served and the public is invited said Steve Bovio, senior project manager at Grande Oaks at Heathrow.

Bovio emphasized that the open house will showcase not only its newest designs, but 13 ready-to-move-in townhomes with special lower pricing for the area.

New pricing, according to Bovio, is from the mid-$240s to $270,000s on these “select” ready-to-move-in townhomes with two and three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths ranging range from 1,857 to 2,387 square feet of living space.

“Our professionally decorated model townhomes at Grande Oaks will be open for touring at the event as well,” Bovio said.

As an added attraction, Bovio said four new designs will be introduced at the open house.

A four-unit building is just starting construction at Grande Oaks at Heathrow with the new two and three bedroom townhome designs ranging from 1,926 square feet to 2,387.

A gated luxury community at the corner of CR 46A and Orange Blvd. in Lake Mary, Grande Oaks at Heathrow (www.KolterGrandeOaks.com) features its own private lakefront recreation center with fitness area, meeting rooms, kitchen, swimming pool and spa with deck area and a tot lot.

Beautiful oaks enhance the property creating natural beauty and bringing serenity to the landscape. Grande Oaks at Heathrow offers quaint pocket parks, opportunities for biking along the numerous bike path routes as well as other local outdoor pursuits such as jogging and fishing. The community is located within easy walking distance of a wide variety of shopping and entertainment venues at Colonial TownPark.

The Grande Oaks at Heathrow sales and preview center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and Sunday Noon to 6 at 1450 Lake George Drive. From I-4 go west on H.E. Thomas, Jr. Pkwy. (CR 46A) to the community entrance just past International Parkway. For information, call 407-829-8961.

For More Information, Contact:
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 Lvershelco@aol.comS

teven V. Bovio, Senior Project Manager, Kolter Homes/Orlando 407-333-1733 sbovio@kolter.com

About Kolter Homes:
Kolter Homes is part of the Kolter Group, a private investment firm focusing on real estate development, investment and construction. Kolter Homes brings more than a decade of experience in Florida homebuilding to each of its communities in Orlando, South Florida and the Treasure Coast. Visit www.KolterHomes.com for additional information.

Datanautix CEO to Deliver Major Address at Worldwide Symposium on Call Center Management in Australia

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. - Sanjay Patel, CEO of Datanautix, Inc., an Orlando-area firm that ranks as one of the world’s leading innovators in contact center analytics technologies, is off to a worldwide symposium in Melbourne, Australia on September 22-23 to deliver a major address on analyzing customer experience in call center interactions.

Patel is one of the world’s leading experts on customer experience analytics, the science of improving customer service interaction effectiveness.

Combining psychology, linguistics, predictive analytics and other unique new technologies, Datanautix, Inc., analyzes customer/agent interactions to help companies drive transformational change in call centers operations around the world.

Patel will deliver his findings during Customer Analytics 2009, the world’s premier conference on call center management from Sept. 22-23 in Melbourne, Australia.

Samm Medina, conference director, said IQPC Australia (International Quality and Productivity Center) is pleased to partner with Datanautix at Customer Analytics 2009.

"During this global economic downturn, the financial, online, and Telco industries are becoming increasingly customer centric to remain competitive,” Medina explained. “As consumer confidence declines, understanding key trends and customer behavior is now, more than ever, vital to business growth and development. Sanjay Patel will be sharing valuable international perspective on Driving Strategic Business Intelligence and Insight through Agent /Customer Interaction Analytics," Medina said.

“Customer Analytics 2009 is the world’s foremost conference for professionals in this field,” Patel said.

At Datanautix, based in Winter Springs, Fla., Patel has developed a suite of proprietary software products and analytics protocols that help call center managers drive breakthrough improvements in their call center operations. Patel’s address at Customer Analytics 2009 will focus on the most recent advances at Datanautix.

“In brief, we are using Datanautix Interaction Analytics to really hear what customers are saying,” Patel explained. “By carefully extracting hidden information from everyday agent-customer interactions, we can improve customer satisfaction by 10 to 20 percent and reduce customer support costs by 20 to 30 percent by making transactions more efficient,” said Patel.
Datanautix, Inc. is a client company of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program located at the Seminole/Winter Springs site at 1511 E. S.R. 434.

For more information, contact:

Sanjay Patel, Founder & President, Datanautix, 407-349-5330, sanjay@datanautix.com

Esther Vargas-Davis, Site Manager, UCF Incubator-Seminole County, 407-278-4881

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

About Datanautix:

Datanautix Inc. specializes in helping companies drive key business process improvements in the contact center/customer management market. The Datanautix Intelligent Interaction Analytics and “active listening” approach not only improves on traditional QA and CSAT measurement challenges, but goes beyond the ‘traditional’ to uncover customer expectations to help drive process changes to improve customer loyalty and operating efficiencies. Typical results from Datanautix’ business process reengineering deployment yield 20-30 percent in savings while driving overall customer satisfaction scores up by 10-20 percent. For more information, please visit http://www.datanautix.com/.

About the UCF Incubation Program:

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the 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, Lake County, the City of Leesburg and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/.

Ashton Woods Homes Starts Construction of Three Ready-To-Move-In Luxury Homes at Thornhill

ORLANDO, Fla. - Ashton Woods Homes has started construction of three ready-to-move-in luxury homes at Thornhill, overlooking Lake Sharp off S.R. 535 and Reams Rd. in Windermere, and at least one will close in time to take advantage of the stimulus tax credit.

Michael Roche, vice president of sales and marketing for Ashton Woods Homes in the Orlando region, said he anticipates a surge in home buyers between now and the Nov. 30 expiration of the $8,000 federal tax grant on new home purchases.

Thornhill features three, four, and five-bedroom homes priced from $249,000 that range from 1,870 square feet of living space to 4,000 square feet.

New homes at Thornhill in one and two-story designs feature a striking Key West theme that won a 2009 Parade of Homes Merit Award and Outstanding Feature Award.

Ashton Woods Homes is a subsidiary of the Great Gulf Group of Companies, a North American real estate conglomerate headquartered in Toronto, and currently has communities under development in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa, Denver and Orlando.

For more information contact:
Michael Roche, VP Sales & Marketing Ashton Woods Homes-Orlando/Tampa, 407-647-3700
John Reny, President, Ashton Woods Homes-Orlando/Tampa 407-647-3700
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

$8,000 Housing Tax Credit Makes an Impact: Beazer Homes Starts Construction of 13 New Town Homes at Verano at Bartram Park

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Beazer Homes has started construction of 13 new town homes at Verano at Bartram Park, located off Bartram Park Rd. in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville.

David Byrnes, president of Beazer Homes in Florida, said the two, three and four-bedroom town homes range in size from 1,416 square feet of living space to 1,496 square feet with attached one-car garages.

New town homes at Verano at Bartram Park are priced from $134,990 to $155,600.

Byrnes said the surge in new construction is a direct result of U.S. economic stimulus efforts.

“New home buyers have until the end of November to take advantage of the $8,000 U.S. Federal tax credit,” Byrnes said. “The tax credit has already had a big impact on sales and we anticipate a big last-minute rush to buy homes in the best locations before the tax credit expires,” he said.

All 13 new tax credit town homes will be completed in early November, Byrnes said.

For more information, contact:
David Byrnes President Beazer Homes / Florida Division - 407-339-4114 dbyrnes@beazer.com

Theresa Tilton, Vice President of Sales Beazer Homes /Florida Division 407-339-4114; ttilton@beazer.com

Dan Gregory, General Sales Manager, Beazer Homes-Jacksonville 904-292-9440; dgregory@beazer.com

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

About Beazer Homes:
Beazer Homes, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the country's 10 largest single-family homebuilders with operations in 17 states. Beazer Homes is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BZH."

Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida Increases Office Group

TAMPA, Fla., - Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida, associated with 130 offices worldwide, has named Maria Camarinos Hall as associate in the firm’s Office Group in Tampa.

Jeff Sweeney, SIOR, president and managing partner of Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida in Tampa, Orlando and Melbourne, said Camarinos Hall has nine years of outside sales experience, including two in commercial real estate.

Camarinos Hall was most recently an associate with GVA Advantis in Tampa representing landlords Tower Realty Partners, Arcis Investments and Professor’s Capital.

She was also formerly associated with UGL Equis in Tampa where she focused on tenant representation. GSA and OmniCare were among large national companies Hall has worked with.
Camarinos Hall is a graduate of the University of Tampa with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

Her appointment to the Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida Office Group is the second major addition recently. In early August Sweeney named Paula Buffa, CCIM, RPA, the current president of the Westshore Alliance, as senior vice president in the firm’s Office Group.

Contacts:
Maria Camarinos Hall 813-830-7894
Jeffrey Sweeney, SIOR President 407-481-5387
Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

About Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida:
Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida is an affiliated commercial real estate services firm specializing in the leasing and sale of office, industrial, retail, land and investment properties. Currently Grubb & EllisCommercial Florida has 40 brokers divided among its Tampa, Orlando and Melbourne offices to serve the entire mid-Florida marketplace.

About Grubb & Ellis:
Named to The Global Outsourcing 100™ in 2009 by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals™, Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE) is one of the largest and most respected commercial real estate services and investment companies in the world. Our 6,000 professionals in more than 130 company-owned and affiliate offices draw from a unique platform of real estate services, practice groups and investment products to deliver comprehensive, integrated solutions to real estate owners, tenants and investors. The firm’s transaction, management, consulting and investment services are supported by highly regarded proprietary market research and extensive local expertise. Through its investment subsidiaries, the company is a leading sponsor of real estate investment programs that provide individuals and institutions the opportunity to invest in a broad range of real estate investment vehicles, including public non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), tenant-in-common (TIC) investments suitable for tax-deferred 1031 exchanges, mutual funds and other real estate investment funds. For more information, visit http://www.grubb-ellis.com/.

NAI Realvest negotiates three office lease agreements in Orlando Central Park

ORLANDO, Fla. - NAI Realvest recently negotiated three lease agreements totaling 2,586 square feet of office space in Orlando Central Park at 7200 Lake Ellenor Drive in Orlando.

SVSK, Inc. renewed its lease of 1,630 square feet; construction industry supplier Brand Energy Solutions, LLC signed a new lease for 777 square feet and Conners Investigative Services, renewed its lease of 179 square feet.

Tom Kelley, CCIM, principal and office leasing specialist at NAI Realvest, negotiated the transactions with the Orlando-based tenants, representing the former landlord, Dallas-based Tarragon Corporation who recently sold the building to JCQ Investments.

For more information, contact:
Tom Kelley, CCIM, Principal NAI Realvest 407-875-9989 tkelley@realvest.com
Pat Mahoney, President, NAI Realvest, 407-875-9989 pmahoney@realvest.com
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

About NAI Realvest:
NAI Realvest, 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 325 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.