Federal Realty Investment Trust, Rockville, MD, listed 66 properties on the web site. "I think it's a great service for the entire retail industry. First of all I think that it's really good that it has a narrow niche by focusing only on retail properties. We would be a lot less interested in it if it covered several property types," says Jeanne Connor, Chief Operating Officer for Federal Realty in its Mid-Atlantic Region.

"What Storetrax.com allows is the potential for retailers to negotiate a deal with us over the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This can be a tremendous savings in time and manpower. The only thing that won't change is that the two sides will still have to meet and kick the tires of the site before an actual contract is signed," says Connor.

Storetrax.com also links to the property owner's site. "We liked the concept that people can find out about our properties and what is available by going to our web site or to Storetrax.com," says Connor.

IRT Property Company, Atlanta, GA, recently listed 9.8 million sq. ft. of grocery anchored shopping centers in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina with Storetrax. One of the major attractions to the site was the minimal cost of leasing space on the site. The cost is $10 to $25 per month depending on the amount of space that is listed on the site. "We think the cost for listing our properties is very attractive. Plus, if we don't think the process is working we can drop the service and only have lost a small amount of money," says Jay Levy, Senior Vice President. IRT at one time had looked into the idea of creating its own version of Storetrax.com. What turned them away was how much it cost to create their own system. "Our projections were that it would have cost us from $10,000 to $20,000 to create our own version and the company could have taken a big financial hit if things had not worked out. We just weren't prepared to take that kind of a loss so we scrapped the idea," says Levy.

First Washington Realty Trust, Bethesda, MD, listed 65 properties on the web site. "A place where property owners and retailers/brokers can meet to work out some business online is a good idea," said President William Wolfe. However, he's not entirely sold on the site's ramifications for the retail industry, "Let's see how the site works for a couple of years before we make any rash judgements."

—Jon Peterson