Business Briefs

New and existing housing sales are up in almost every region of Florida and real estate sales professionals are bracing for a busy 2013, according to Roger Soderstrom, founder and owner of Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty in Orlando.

Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor and Reed, P.A., is pleased to announce that it has raised $95,000 for Heart of Florida United Way’s 2012-13 campaign. In the past two years, the firm has been named among the Top 25 Giving Organizations.

Mike Winn & Lief Erickson of Winter Park Land Commercial were the listing agents and Cesar Estrada of Keller Williams Advantage III was the selling agent for the 1,050-square-foot office condo at 157 E. New England Ave. The office condo, located one block east of Park Avenue, sold for $195,000. The seller was Great American Land Management Inc. The buyer was S Trust LLC.

The Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) presented a check for $75,000 to A Place for Children, a free, drop-in daycare center located in the Orange County Courthouse. The donation is part of the OCBA’s ongoing support of the courts and the community. A Place for Children, which opened in 1998, provides a safe, nurturing environment for children ages 1-14 years whose parents have court hearings or other business at the courthouse.

Shaw Mechanical Services of Orlando recently completed a contract for the HVAC mechanical work at Valencia College, Building 10, located at the Valencia College West

Campus. The $1.9 million 11-month “fast track” project included state-of-the-art energy efficient “Smardt” centrifugal chiller, pumps, variable air volume boxes, custom air handling units and a complete energy management system. The team consisted of the design build construction manager McCree General Contractors of Orlando, Schenkel Schultz Architecture of Orlando, and OCI Associates Inc. of Altamonte Springs.

Source2, a national recruitment process outsourcing firm headquartered in Winter Park, has acquired the business assets of Charlotte, N.C., based Bennett Hall Company, a staffing firm specializing in the cable and wiring industry. Cliff Edahl, who served as Bennett Hall’s president and CEO, has been named executive vice president of business development in the Carolinas representing Source2.

Royal Oak Homes, a third-generation family homebuilder whose track record includes more than 14,000 new homes in Central Florida over the past 30 years, has named Kirk Wallace construction manager. Matt Orosz, co-president at Royal Oak Homes, said Wallace has more than 30 years of experience as a homebuilder. Royal Oak Homes builds single-family homes in 10 Central Florida communities.

David Moss has been hired as vice president of Property and Casualty of Insurance Consultants of Central Florida. David brings years of experience building insurance programs in the commercial insurance area, from basic general liability policies to complex real property and professional liability coverage plans.

NAI Realvest recently negotiated the sale of a 3,700-square-foot office condo at 630 N. Wymore Road in the Maitland Professional Office Village for $500,000. Tom R. Kelley, principal at NAI Realvest, negotiated the sale of Suite 330 at the center representing the seller Marlyn D. Felsing, LLC of Maitland. Longwood based FTI Funding LLC, a privately held investment firm, purchased the office condominium.

Cuhaci & Peterson Architects Engineers Planners based in Orlando’s Baldwin Park has acquired LMA Architects, a 35-year old architectural firm based just outside Philadelphia in Blue Bell, Pa. Jed Downs, president of Cuhaci & Peterson, said LMA Architects has served the needs of Wawa Convenience stores in the chain’s core mid-Atlantic markets since 1980. Wawa is based in Media, Pa., only a few miles from the LMA office, and currently operates more than 600 stores in their core markets.

Royal Oak Homes, based in Orlando’s Baldwin Park, will be acquiring 116 new home sites at Sorrento Springs, a gated golf course community located off State Road 46 in Mount Dora. Matt Orosz, co-president of Royal Oak Homes, said the community includes an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, fully equipped clubhouse and a resort-style swimming pool.

RhythmX, Orlando’s pioneering dance and fitness studio, opened a new 12,000-square-foot facility located at 133 Atlantic Drive in Maitland on Jan. 18.

Shaw Mechanical Services of Orlando has recently completed a contract with Doster Construction for the Princeton Elementary School project in Orlando. The contract, valued at $1.5 million, consisted of 27,600 square feet of remodel and 49,200 square feet of new construction. The new HVAC system included Trane air-cooled chillers, air handling units, VAV boxes and an energy management system. The contract also included a chilled water piping system and sheet metal duct system.