BASEBALL | FROM THE FRONT PAGE: The Big Pitch (The Charlotte Observer) A plan to bring major-league baseball to uptown Charlotte could strike out quickly, unless the developer can prove -- by the end of March -- that he can raise more than half a billion dollars in private money. Real estate lawyer Jerry Reese said the Florida Marlins are interested in his plans for a 38,000-seat stadium in Second Ward. But local leaders say without assurance the money is there,
It's confirmed: Blackstone buying South Seas (The News-Press) Blackstone Group LP is buying South Seas Resort as well as eight other Florida hotels and a golf-tennis club from real estate investment trust MeriStar Hospitality Corp. for about $367 million.
Florida business briefs (Miami Herald) Profits at Ocean Bank, which has long ridden the wave of South Florida's real estate boom, surged 16 percent in 2005, the bank reported.