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Tampa Tribune

Published: December 4, 2007

TAMPA BAY AREA

Lennar Sells 8,300 Lots

Miami-based Lennar Corp. on Tuesday walked away from developments planned for Pasco, Hillsborough and five other Florida counties. The troubled builder sold 8,300 homesites to Tampa-based Metro Development Group for an undisclosed sum.

Nearly half of the potential homesites were in Epperson Ranch, a 1,700-acre project in central Pasco County. Pasco officials approved the development of Epperson Ranch in October, but the project has remained in limbo awaiting a needed land-use change from county and state planners.

Metro also picked up 530 sites in Lennar's Waterleaf project in Hillsborough County. Other projects were in Polk, Sarasota, Brevard, DeSoto and Lee counties.

The deal increases Metro's holdings in Florida by 40 percent, company spokesman John Heagney said.

NET

Disney Buys IParenting

Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that it has bought iParenting, a network of more than 40 Web sites in English and Spanish, to expand its family-oriented Internet offerings. Terms were not disclosed.

NATION

CEO Outlook Improves

Confidence among U.S. chief executive officers rose in the fourth quarter from a four-year low on optimism sales will improve, said a survey released Tuesday by the Business Roundtable in Washington. Seven of every 10 executives predict sales will increase in the next six months, the most since the first three months of the year.

Block, Cerberus: No Deal

H&R Block and Cerberus Capital Management said Tuesday that they have terminated their agreement, announced in April, for a Cerberus subsidiary to buy Option One Mortgage.H&R Block is accepting no new mortgage applications and will lay off about 620 employees, close three offices and take a $75 million restructuring charge as it shuts down operations of the $1 billion business. The company said it will honor $30 million worth of existing commitments.

Dell Renews Buyback

Dell is reviving plans to buy back its shares in the company and will begin to repurchase $10 billion in common stock this week, chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said Tuesday. A time frame for the repurchase plan was not disclosed. Dell shares fell 34 cents Tuesday to $23.60.

A staff and wire report

Watch the Tribune's Business report at 5, 6 and 11 a.m. Tuesday to Friday and 9 a.m. Saturdays on WFLA-TV.

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