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ORLANDO, FLA. — Marriott Vacation Club International has broken ground on the Lakeshore Reserve at Grande Lakes in Orlando. Located within Grande Lakes Orlando, the resort will be the first-ever Marriott Vacation Club property to be co-located with a JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton. Lakeshore Reserve will feature 340 villas and townhomes with the first phase slated for occupancy by summer 2010. “We are very pleased to join Grande Lakes and offer this ideal location for our owners and guests,” said Lee Cunningham, executive vice president and chief operating officer with Marriott Vacation Club. “Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve will be our seventh property in Central Florida, located in one of Orlando’s most prestigious settings,” Cunningham added. Villas will range from 1,185 square feet to 1,655 square feet of living space, and for the first time in North America, Marriott Vacation Club will introduce two-story townhomes and two-bedroom, two-bathroom lock-off villas offering two master suites. Villa interiors will feature granite countertops; GE stainless steel appliances; multiple LG flat-panel televisions with DVD players; oversized shower; washer/dryer; and Wi-Fi accessibility. Situated on 500 acres, the campus will feature numerous gardens and walkways, boutique shops, dining options, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and The Ritz-Carlton Spa, …

PITTSBURGH AND ROSWELL, GA. — National Hospitality Holdings (NHH) has acquired Embassy Suites Pittsburgh-International Airport Hotel and Doubletree Hotel Atlanta/Roswell from General Electric for an undisclosed price. The investments are NHH’s first two acquisitions under the recently formed joint venture with CMS Companies. The Embassy Suites property in Pittsburgh features 223 rooms and 13,650 square feet of meeting space. It is located less than five miles from Pittsburgh International Airport and 15 miles from downtown. The Doubletree property in Roswell features 172 rooms and 12,000 square feet of meeting space. It is located along Georgia State Route 400 between the Perimeter and Alpharetta, and is enhanced by a “Southern mansion-style” façade. “Having a funded joint venture partner (CMS Companies) allowed us to move quickly on this portfolio opportunity,” said John DePaul, managing principal and CEO of NHH. Each hotel will undergo a multi-million renovation to all guestrooms, function space and public areas and will be operated by NHH Hotels & Resorts under a long-term license agreement with Hilton Hotels Corp. “We will renovate our product, train our employees and enhance service levels to be the preferred hotels in each market. The multi-million dollar renovations will position these assets with the …

BOSTON — Boston Capital has closed on the Boston Capital Tax Credit Fund XXX, a nationally diversified portfolio of 27 affordable apartment properties in 15 states with total equity raised of $150 million. With this closing, Boston Capital has closed $481 million in equity since December 2007. “At a challenging time for the U.S. economy and the credit markets, we are very pleased to close a fund consisting of high quality assets and strong investor interest in these assets,” said Jack Manning, president and CEO of Boston Capital. “The appetite for these investments is reflective of the high standards inherent in our investment offerings. We will continue to provide our developer partners and our investors the best finance and investment programs in the business.” Fund XXX includes three developments for seniors, totaling 613 units. Six developments located in Virginia are EarthCraft House certified. The EarthCraft House program is a voluntary green building program for the southeastern region of the US that serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment. The properties acquired by Corporate Fund XXX will add an additional 3,281 apartment units to Boston Capital’s holdings, which currently total over 168,000 …

BOSTON — Boston Capital has closed on the Boston Capital Tax Credit Fund XXX, a nationally diversified portfolio of 27 affordable apartment properties in 15 states with total equity raised of $150 million. With this closing, Boston Capital has closed $481 million in equity since December 2007. “At a challenging time for the U.S. economy and the credit markets, we are very pleased to close a fund consisting of high quality assets and strong investor interest in these assets,” said Jack Manning, president and CEO of Boston Capital. “The appetite for these investments is reflective of the high standards inherent in our investment offerings. We will continue to provide our developer partners and our investors the best finance and investment programs in the business.” Fund XXX includes three developments for seniors, totaling 613 units. Six developments located in Virginia are EarthCraft House certified. The EarthCraft House program is a voluntary green building program for the southeastern region of the US that serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment. The properties acquired by Corporate Fund XXX will add an additional 3,281 apartment units to Boston Capital’s holdings, which currently total over 168,000 …

BOSTON — Boston Capital has closed on the Boston Capital Tax Credit Fund XXX, a nationally diversified portfolio of 27 affordable apartment properties in 15 states with total equity raised of $150 million. With this closing, Boston Capital has closed $481 million in equity since December 2007. “At a challenging time for the U.S. economy and the credit markets, we are very pleased to close a fund consisting of high quality assets and strong investor interest in these assets,” said Jack Manning, president and CEO of Boston Capital. “The appetite for these investments is reflective of the high standards inherent in our investment offerings. We will continue to provide our developer partners and our investors the best finance and investment programs in the business.” Fund XXX includes three developments for seniors, totaling 613 units. Six developments located in Virginia are EarthCraft House certified. The EarthCraft House program is a voluntary green building program for the southeastern region of the US that serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment. The properties acquired by Corporate Fund XXX will add an additional 3,281 apartment units to Boston Capital’s holdings, which currently total over 168,000 …

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Schafer Development has acquired the former Jax Raceways site with plans for a 1.5 million-square-foot industrial business park. “We’ve been working on it (acquiring the property) for two years,” said Steve Schafer, president of Schafer Development. “It’s ideally located near the airport, the seaport area and Interstate 95. There’s a lot of great activity in Jacksonville,” Schafer said. Between 1968 and 2004 the property operated as Gator Speedway, New Jacksonville Speedway and JAX Dragstrip, and most recently had been owned in partnership with Lennar Homes and GMAC. It is situated on Pecan Park Road. “It was mostly vacant land. The grandstands and everything had already been removed because the owner was going to proceed with a residential development. Partway into the project, they stopped,” Schafer said. Over the past two years, Schafer Development, based in Farmington Hills, Mich., has developed other sites in Jacksonville including New Berlin Commerce Park (860,000 square feet); Main Street Commerce Park (810,000 square feet); and Faye Road Commerce Park (350,000 square feet). The newly acquired land will connect with Main Street Commerce Park. Schafer said that they are already in discussions with one potential user. “We’ve rezoned it back to industrial,” Schafer …