Shermen Group

February 04, 2008
THE SHERMEN GROUP BREAKS GROUND ON CELEBRATION BLVD MEDICAL CENTER
Celebration, FL (February 4, 2008) – The Shermen Group LLC, a full service real estate company with offices in New York, Boston and Celebration, today joined with its development team and lenders to break ground on Celebration Blvd. Medical Center, a 90,000-square-foot, four-story medical office center located on Celebration Boulevard, with frontage along Interstate 4. The complex will house doctors, providers and other medical professionals to provide healthcare services to residents of Celebration, Osceola County and the surrounding areas.

“Today marks an exciting day for The Shermen Group and the Celebration community,” said Francis Jenkins, managing partner of The Shermen Group. “Celebration Blvd. Medical Center presents an outstanding opportunity for medical providers and professionals to serve the growing needs of this region and has already begun attracting tenants at a brisk pace.”

Located at 1630 Celebration Blvd., the complex is being built on a seven-acre parcel of land that The Shermen Group purchased from The Celebration Company in 2007. It is the last available lot in Celebration designated for medical office use, independent of the area hospital system. Shermen has secured a $17 million loan from Fifth Third Bank to cover construction costs and has received all entitlements required for the project, including special medical entitlements.

“We are pleased to work with the Sherman Group and finance this impressive facility for healthcare providers in Celebration,” said John Stephens, senior vice president & head of commercial banking for Fifth Third Bank (Central Florida). “Fifth Third Bank embraces opportunities to support growth in this area, and we plan to build more new banking centers in Osceola County this year.”

“We are thrilled to have Fifth Third’s confidence in the project and are looking forward to moving ahead with construction and to completing a project that will have such a positive impact on this area,” Mr. Jenkins added.

“Celebration Blvd. Medical Center will be a welcome and healthy addition to the community of Celebration as well as Osceola County,” said Matthew Kelly, president of The Celebration Company. “The Shermen Group’s plans truly complement the existing buildings along Celebration Boulevard and the surrounding businesses.”

Cooper Robertson & Partners provided the designs for the office building, which will reflect the Celebration-modern architectural style and will be consistent with Celebration’s architectural guidelines. The current architect-of-record, C4 Architecture, used Cooper’s schematic drawings to create the design development and construction drawings for the project. The general contractor is Whiting Turner Contracting Company.

About The Shermen Group

The Shermen Group is a full service real estate company with offices in New York, Boston and Celebration. Our group currently has 200,000 square feet of projects underway in the greater Boston area and Central Florida. For further information on the Celebration Blvd. Medical Center, visit www.celebrationmed.com.

About Fifth Third Bank
Fifth Third Bank (Central Florida) is a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp, a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $111 billion in assets, operates 18 affiliates with 1,227 full-service Banking Centers, including 102 Bank Mart® locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,211 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Georgia. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2007, has $223 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $33 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® National Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Member FDIC.