According to Henry Robbins of MrOfficeSpace, which built this online calculator for the Alliance, it simplifies a highly complex task. After you do the calculations, you can automatically search for space available. So if you're looking for, say, 25,000 square feet in Downtown, you'll currently find 140 spaces in 34 buildings. And as you cursor through the list, you'll see that most of the space is available "immediately." Oh-oh, this is a soft market. (The New York Times reported yesterday that New York City has lost almost 176,000 jobs.)

MrOfficeSpace's listing service flows out of Office Buildings Magazine, a series of print directories covering ten major metros in the Northeast. Starting with this core content, MrOfficeSpace adds space available data, virtual tours, and tools for communicating this information electronically. And MrOfficeSpace powers online databases for a number of news publications, government organizations and economic development agencies.

During the Internet Bubble days, this business model was termed a "brick-and-click" strategy, although few real estate online vendors followed it. Mostly their strategy was just pure clicks. (RIP: Comro, CRENET, RealtyIQ, which collectively spent in the tens of millions of dollars before folding.) But Robbins believes that his print publications provide a great platform for extending his content into the online world.

Spread the Word... And thanks to Michael Dow and CRESA Partners for sponsoring the PikeNet Dispatch. (Hey, maybe they can find you space for less than $20.) If you'd like to sponsor future issues, send e-mail or call 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike