Published December 2000

Web site caters to leasing needs of small businesses

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

SEATTLE — Colliers International, the global commercial real estate giant that is used to thinking big, has learned to think small, launching a new Web site with SpaceLease of Seattle that targets the office needs of small and medium-size businesses — including those in Snohomish County.

The new Internet site, www.spacelease.com, went live on the Web last month.

Combining a new Internet company with an established leader in the real estate leasing field should make a profitable “clicks and mortar” partnership, its partners believe. The venture is expected to generate $100 million in annual revenues by the end of its first five years in business, even with only a 10 percent market penetration.

Officials from Colliers and SpaceLease agreed that Snohomish County properties are an important part of the tri-county inventory of commercial space, particularly since businesses are moving north from King County as rents rise and inventory shrinks.

Future markets for SpaceLease will include Portland and San Francisco before the Web-site team moves across the country and into Canada, always focusing on communities with Colliers International offices and large numbers of technology-minded residents and businesses who are likely to use the site.

“We’re specializing in leasing office properties in the Puget Sound region under 10,000 square feet,” said Rob Aigner, Executive Managing Director of the Northwest Region. “We’re the first brokerage in the nation to introduce this (on the Internet).”

SpaceLease President Gary Bodenstab said, “This is a market that has not been addressed well” because it’s inefficient to spend so much time on a segment of the market that provides the smallest return in revenues for brokers. Most firms concentrate on the larger properties and larger tenants, he said.

“That’s why this is an important niche for us,” Bodenstab said. “We provide a Web site where smaller tenants can find properties, then we help them, both online and in person, to tour properties, plan their needs and put together proposals.”

The site’s inventory already includes more than 2 million square feet of commercial properties available in sizes under 10,000 square feet. That total climbs to 10 million square feet when office space under construction and in planning stages is included.

Listings will increase as more property owners contribute to the Web site. Presently, owners can fax information to SpaceLease, but soon the site will accept online submissions.

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