ORLANDO, FL - July 31, 2001 - ZOM Development, Inc. is this year's big winner of the 2001 Gold Aurora Award at the Southeast Building Conference in recognition of the best in show for its residential development, The Madison at SoHo, located in Tampa, Florida. Awards were presented during a gala Saturday at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando. Sponsored by the Florida Home Builders Association, the Auroras are awarded annually for excellence in residential building and design. Builders, architects, interior designers and others in the residential construction industry compete for the honors. This year's competition drew 297 entries from a dozen Southeastern states.

SoHo's creative design, both exterior and interior, won rave reviews from the judges, who praised ZOM for the project's attention to detail, uniqueness and innovation to address modern urban issues such as sprawl and growth. The Madison at SoHo won a total of nine awards: Gold Aurora for best in show; Best of State for an Apartment Community; Grand Aurora for an Apartment Community (15 or more units per acre); Grand Aurora for Apartment Interior Design; Grand Aurora for Landscape Design; Aurora for Apartment Community (15 or more units per acre); Aurora for Recreational Facility / Country Club; Aurora for Landscape Design; and an Aurora for Apartment Interior Design.

The Madison at SoHo is a rare urban infill development situated in a former industrial district. The development consists of thirteen individual buildings consisting of 368 rental units and two parking garages. Embracing the eclectic character of its surroundings, the original warehouses were designed after four architectural styles: loft residential Italian Villas with barrel tile roofs and Tuscan flavor, Arts & Crafts manner homes reflective of this historic South Tampa neighborhood, and Post Modern lofts. Consistent throughout each style is the special attention to human scale with brick sidewalks, mature streetscapes, tree guards, pots and stoops. The SoHo district has attracted a broad spectrum of residents whose various ages, lifestyles and tastes have helped develop two distinct interior styles. The loft-style homes feature columns, black and white checkerboard floors, maple cabinetry, black appliances and exposed ceilings, while the more traditional homes utilize white raised panel cabinets, ceramic tile foyers, and white appliances.

Each resident enjoys a private courtyard featuring intimate living, while the more public courtyards were designed to provide human interaction by placing a pool and spa in the midst of an "abandoned" brick street and turning the once used sidewalk into above-curb terraces and sunning patios. The courtyard also features an original Checker Taxi redesigned as a planter and a fountain designed to look like a fire hydrant that temperamentally sprays unsuspecting guests.

Greg West, Development VP, accepted the awards on behalf of ZOM and thanked his development team and consultants for their ingenuity and level of commitment in creating such a unique cosmopolitan project. ZOM President and CEO, Steve Patterson, thanked the SEBC for the recognition and congratulated the development team on the completion of another ZOM project that has been so well received by the marketplace and our peers. According to Patterson, "To be selected as the best among competitors, including multi-million dollar homes, country clubs and luxury condominium projects, is a monumental accomplishment for a tight budget apartment community."

ZOM has previously won 33 Aurora awards for projects it has developed, including Grand Auroras in 2000, 1999 and 1998 and a Gold Aurora for "Best Development Project" in 1997.