| Orlando CNL unit scoops up 2 office buildings
With real-estate prices stable or falling and sellers shopping for buyers, CNL Commercial Real Estate in Orlando is on the hunt for multimillion-dollar deals. And it recently scored with two big ones.
The company, one of seven independent business units founded and controlled by Orlando real-estate mogul James Seneff, bought a $4.5 million office property in Central Florida Research Park and a $32 million, 12-story office building on Harbour Island in Tampa's central business district.
Both were acquired for "well below replacement cost," President Paul Ellis said Tuesday during an interview in the company's CNL Center II headquarters in downtown Orlando. More deals are in the works, he said, as the company looks to put its capital to work now that more bargains are cropping up.
Changing with the times
Part of the inspiration to sell its canal real estate came from a deal the port struck with Trinity Yachts, a company that constructs multimillion-dollar luxury vessels at a yard on the France Road side of the Industrial Canal. Katrina swallowed Trinity's facilities, forcing the company to relocate its headquarters to Gulfport, Miss. The Port of New Orleans wanted desperately to lure back the company, but Trinity refused to bite unless it could own its property. The port agreed to sell about 48 acres to the yacht builder for $4.5 million. "In the case of Trinity, it was a do-or-die deal," Hughes said. "We got to keep all those jobs in the city." The port has arranged a similar agreement with Better Boxing Co., which in July purchased a port-owned warehouse on the Industrial Canal and is poised to buy the 4 acres of land beneath it.
Florida's midsection key to GOP hopefuls
LAKELAND, FLA. -- Linda Ivell is an ardent supporter of President Bush, leads the state Republican women's club and has met all of the major GOP presidential candidates. Yet the effervescent 53-year-old real estate agent, who lives in this former citrus and phosphate mining hub in central Florida, simply can't make up her mind about whom to vote for Tuesday in Florida's crucial presidential primary.
"I honestly don't know," said Ivell, who is torn by the candidates' appeals as conservatives on economic, national security and social issues.
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What's the hottest farm commodity? Land
Rick Rohrich, a 26-year-old father of three, just bought his first farmstead at a time when crop and pasture land are fetching record prices. He didn't think he had a choice. Rural land prices are setting records across the country, and farmers, with a boost from high commodity prices, are in a buying mood. "The prices keep jacking up and I don't see it slowing down," Rohrich said. He closed on the 320-acre property this month, paying about $1,000 an acre for pasture land, a farmhouse and some outbuildings. The cost of the property was about double what it was worth less than five years ago, he said. "Land prices are getting to where it will push us young guys out," he said. Ray Brownfield, president of the Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in Oswego, Ill., said rural real estate values continue to rise.
An L.A. loft for high-flying Depp
Johnny Depp has been busier than any pirate in the Caribbean, and that could be why the downtown L.A. loft he bought in the fall for close to $2 million is still vacant.
Depp bought a penthouse in the Eastern Columbia Building, an Art Deco landmark on South Broadway. The 13-story building, opened in 1930 as a retail and office tower and later used as a department store and movie backdrop, was converted into 147 residential lofts in 2006. FOR THE RECORD:
Hot Property: The Jan. 6 Real Estate column said a West Hollywood compound once owned by silent-film director Irvin Willat contained 20 detached houses on a portion of the original property. The residences are attached and occupy the entire original family compound. It also named Nichole Fox of Brower, Miller & Cole as a contact.
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