CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. (August 8, 2007) How do you create a downtown where people local residents, AND tourists will enjoy strolling as an everyday leisure activity?  One key is people, says Marc Reicher, Senior Vice President of Operations at ChampionsGate.

One of the things people enjoy most is a pedestrian friendly environment, Reicher said.  At the new Downtown project at ChampionsGate in Osceola County, RIDA Associates, LP will be building two hundred luxury apartments and a mix of upscale retail and office space to create a real downtown destination for the Four Corners area.

Reicher said the pedestrian friendly lifestyle center will include 65,000 square feet of retail space and he is currently negotiating with restaurant groups and others to locate facilities within the new downtown.  Another 37,000 square feet of office space will create a daily business environment, not to mention business and employment opportunities, Reicher said.

Construction of the $65 million lifestyle center will get underway in the spring of 2008.

About ChampionsGate

ChampionsGate (www.ChampionsGate.com) is Floridas premier golf resort community, encompassing some 1,500 acres southwest of Orlando.  ChampionsGate, with its beautifully designed double gates, welcomes visitors off Interstate 4, just south of Walt Disney World Resort.

ChampionsGate is home to the world headquarters of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, the AAA four-diamond Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, a flagship resort for Omni Hotels featuring a 10,000 square-foot spa, and two championship golf courses designed by Greg Norman. The community is also host each December to the nationally televised MBNA WorldPoints Father/Son Golf Challenge, which pairs up major championship winners with their sons.

ChampionsGate is being developed by Rida Associates LP as a joint venture by Apollo Real Estate Advisors of New York and Rida Development Corporation of Houston.  ChampionsGate has a projected value of approximately $1 billion and is expected to include 2,864 hotel rooms, 2,136 resort villas, condominiums, townhomes and apartments, 36 holes of golf, and 426,000 square feet of retail space, making ChampionsGate one of the regions largest resort destinations.

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For more information, contact:

Marc S. Reicher, ChampionsGate, 407-397-2500

Christina Balikowsky, ChampsionsGate, 407-397-2500

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, LV  Communications, 407-644-4142