Crescent Resources Grows Presence In Florida With Acquisition Of Oakland Park

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Crescent Resources, LLC has acquired the 258-acre Oakland Park residential community between the Town of Oakland and City of Winter Garden, Fla., from its original developer, Castle & Cooke. Located 14 miles west of downtown Orlando, Oakland Park is a certified green development by the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) and has approximately one half mile of shoreline on Lake Apopka and direct access to the West Orange Trail.

"Castle & Cooke's vision for Oakland Park is innovative, environmentally conscious and beautifully executed, which is in keeping with Crescent's development philosophy," said Margaret Jennesse, senior vice president of Crescent Resources. "We are quite excited about the future of this community and building upon the existing vision. We have spent considerable time researching the market to find the right opportunity to introduce Crescent Resources' residential division to Central Florida. Oakland Park met all of our criteria."

Castle & Cooke has developed 137 of the planned 900 homesites. Meadowmarsh Park, including a swimming pool, pavilion and community garden, is under construction and scheduled for completion this fall. David Weekley Homes, Ashton Woods Homes and J&J Building, LLC are building in the neighborhood that currently includes 12 occupied homes and approximately 15 homes under construction.

The entrance to the community is located on Oakland Avenue, a particularly stunning section of the Green Mountain Scenic Byway. The traditional architecture is inspired by the historic homes in Oakland and Winter Garden reminiscent of small towns throughout earlier 20th century America. Current homes range from 1,850 square feet to more than 3,600 square feet with prices starting in the mid $200,000s.

"Castle & Cooke has had numerous inquiries over the years to sell all or part of Oakland Park," said John Rinehart, vice president of Castle & Cooke Florida. "Given the community's exceptional location on the West Orange Trail and Lake Apopka and near downtown Winter Garden, Oakland Park has drawn significant attention. When Crescent Resources approached Castle & Cooke, we knew the company had the ability and strength to maintain Castle & Cooke's vision for a sustainable, traditional community. Equally important, Crescent shares our commitment to quality development for the local community." 

"Since 1996 when initial planning for Keene's Pointe began, Castle & Cooke has had a strong commitment to the Central Florida marketplace," Rinehart said. "That commitment will continue with our focus on the success of our brokerage operations at Keene's Pointe Realty and downtown Windermere's Suzi Karr Realty. Castle & Cooke will also pursue new opportunities in the Central Florida area that are consistent with our strong history of quality development as exhibited by Keene's Pointe and Oakland Park."  

"While this is our first investment in single-family residential in the Orlando market, our company has long been involved in commercial development in the area," said Andy Carmody, president of the residential division for Crescent Resources. "Oakland Park is an amazing property with a prime location and great lake frontage. Coupled with rising employment conditions and a decreasing inventory of new homes, Oakland Park is perfectly positioned for the short- and long-term."

A recently released University of Florida survey indicated a positive outlook for single-family housing in the Orlando market. According to the quarterly Survey of Emerging Market Conditions from the Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies: "The outlook for new single family development increased this quarter closing as improving employment trends, net positive migration into Florida and shrinking housing inventory levels boost the outlook for builders. Historically low levels of new product development have resulted in a low supply of new single family homes."

The acquisition of Oakland Park will expand Crescent Resources' existing strong presence in the Central Florida market. Crescent is the developer of the combined 240-acre office parks, The Crescent at Primera and New Century Park in Lake Mary, Fla. The company is also the developer of Resource Square at Central Florida Research Park adjacent to the University of Central Florida campus. In Altamonte Springs, Crescent is developing a 199,777-square-foot office building for Adventist Health System next to its 153,864-square-foot corporate headquarters facility Crescent completed in December.

About Crescent Resources, LLC

Founded in 1969 and based in Charlotte, Crescent Resources is a diversified real estate development and operating company. The company conducts business through four divisions in growing markets in the Southeast and Texas and has a long history of developing high-quality residential communities and commercial assets. Currently, Crescent has 20 master-planned communities and seven multifamily communities with 2,200 units under development and an additional 2,900 multifamily units in predevelopment. Crescent owns more than 75,000 acres of land across its four divisions, including 1,400 acres zoned for a variety of commercial uses. Visit www.crescent-resources.com for more information.

About Castle & Cooke, Inc.

Castle & Cooke, Inc. and its affiliated companies are owned by David H. Murdock. The company's diversified businesses have operations in 24 states and include the development and ownership of real estate. The company's developments include master planned communities such as Lake Sherwood in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Mililani Town on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, Seven Oaks in Bakersfield, Calif., and Keene's Pointe near Windermere in West Orange County, Fla.

SOURCE Crescent Resources, LLC