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Bell Partners Inc.
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Bell Group Sponsors Florida Development

A Steven D. Bell & Company-sponsored partnership, along with Wood Partners of Atlanta, has purchased property in Jacksonville, Fla. that will be developed into a $25 million apartment community.

The planned community, a 258-unit project to be called Alta Sienna, will be within the St. John's Town Center planned development, a 207-acre mixed-use project located in the northwest corner of Jay Turner Butler Boulevard and St. John's Bluff Road.

According to Bell officials, the Bell group's investors will provide the equity required by the agreement and Wood Partners will develop and build the apartment community. Steven D. Bell & Company will manage the property and execute leasing.

Bell Vice President Jon Bell commented, "The Jacksonville area continues to be a very attractive locale for our owner groups and we are especially comfortable doing business with Wood Partners."

The Bell Group and Wood Partners have teamed together over the last five years to build and develop more than 6,000 apartments throughout the Southeast at a value of more than $400 million.

The Alta Sienna site is adjacent to Interstate 295 and approximately 4.5 miles east of Interstate 95. The St. John’s Town Center is planned as a 500,000-square-foot retailing center and will include retail tenants such as Target, Old Navy, Dillard's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Barnes and Noble.

The center will be completed in the spring of 2005 prior to the construction of the Alta Sienna Apartments, projected to open during the first quarter of 2006.

Alta Sienna will be a garden style community with four stories, containing a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units, with an average square footage of approximately 1,100 square feet. The property will be a class "A" community with a luxury clubhouse, resort-style pool and workout facility.

Headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., Steven D. Bell & Company is a diversified real estate company that currently manages a real estate portfolio across the Southeast and Texas valued at about $2 billion. The Bell portfolio includes more than 19,000 apartment units, more than 4,000,000 square feet of retail space and 11 senior living facilities.