Triangle Business Journal – By Amanda Jones Hoyle

The developers of the planned 140 West Franklin condo and retail complex in Chapel Hill have selected the John Moriarty & Associates Inc. construction company as the project’s general contractor.

Construction is slated to begin in June for the $40 million project on Franklin Street.

Winchester, Mass.-based JMA has opened an office in Durham led by 35-year construction industry veteran George Sparling, vice president and general manager of Moriarty Southeast.

JMA specializes in luxury residential buildings, commercial office buildings and mixed-use communities. It also has offices in Virginia, Florida and Connecticut.

140 West Franklin reached a milestone of 40 condo sales in March. When complete, the eight-story building will have 140 condo units, 26,000 square feet of retail space and a 337-space parking deck. The parking deck will be owned and operated by the town of Chapel Hill.

Ram Development Co. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is the developer and owner of the 140 West Franklin property.

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., April 23, 2010 – Over the last fifteen months, Ram has acquired fourteen non-performing notes and eleven have been resolved. Ram announces today its most recent resolution with the acquisition of title to a commercially-zoned 10.57 acre vacant land parcel located at Boggy Creek Road and Narcoossee Road, in the Lake Nona submarket of Orlando, Florida, at a foreclosure sale. Ram plans to master develop the site into six commercial outparcel lots.

Previously, Ram contracted to purchase a non-performing mortgage secured by the Boggy Creek property. The Boggy Creek note was one of three sub-performing senior mortgages acquired by Ram in 2010, with a total par value of $19.9 million, and the only one in Orlando Florida. The notes were acquired at a significant discount to par and were acquired on behalf of Ram Realty Partners II, a private equity fund sponsored by Ram and its principals. The fund currently has assets totaling $175 million with additional equity capital on hand to expand its holdings to a total of $600 million.

Additional Ram properties in the Orlando area include Best Buy/Barnes & Noble at Orange Blossom Trail, Pine Hills Marketplace on West Colonial Drive, and Downtown Ocoee at SR 50 and 439.

“Ram continues to broaden its acquisition strategy as we work with a variety of lending institutions and property owners to acquire non-performing loans and access prime real estate across the Southeast,” said Casey Cummings, president of Ram. “As the economy continues to recover, we see significant opportunities where we can add value throughout our markets.”

Founded in 1978, Florida-based Ram pursues the acquisition, development, and redevelopment of commercial, multifamily and mixed-use real estate throughout the Southeast, with a focus on the major markets in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In addition to its development and value-add acquisition activity, Ram acquires non-performing and sub-performing mortgages secured by commercial and multifamily properties. Ram has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, Florida, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia, with its corporate office in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. For more information, visit www.ramrealestate.com.