Are You Sick Of The Real Estate-Internet Revolution, Too? - 8/4/2000 - Real Estate Products Services

Are You Sick Of The Real Estate-Internet Revolution, Too?

by Lesley Hensell

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a believer in the 'Net. After all, you are reading my column by virtue of the Information Superhighway. But these deals are all starting to sound alike, and a few of them leave me scratching my head.

You be the judge. This week, Crescent Real Estate Equities Company (NYSE: CEI) teamed up with Oxford Properties Group Inc. (TSE: OXG) as an investor in Empori.com. Crescent will own approximately 10 percent of Empori, helping the site to enter the U.S. market.

Under the deal, the Empori e-tailing solution will be available before year-end in some of Crescent's Dallas and Houston properties.

So what is Empori? Well, it provides online shopping services. Customers can buy stuff online, and then pick up their purchases at Empori retail delivery outlets, which are located in major office buildings.

Customers initially will have access to over 20 leading e-tailers, which are able to offer same-day or next-day delivery of purchases. Through the aggregation by Oxford and Crescent of over 225,000 office building customers, Empori will provide small to medium size business customers with enhanced purchasing power through pre- negotiated discounts of up to 45 percent from leading business suppliers.

And nothing like eliminating those annoying delivery charges, eh?

"We anticipate EMPORI.COM to be a tremendous addition to our portfolio and an asset to both our shareholders and our customers," said Denny Alberts, president and COO of Crescent. "By rolling out this highly innovative e- tailing solution in certain of our own buildings in major U.S. markets, we are continuing to distinguish ourselves as a leader in customer service and asset quality while expanding the dimensions of business beyond what had been previously expected in traditional real estate environments."

Meanwhile, RealEstate.com has moved into the commercial real estate industry with the launch of CommercialPlus, customized, individual Web sites for the more than 180,000 commercial real estate brokers. With CommercialPlus, commercial brokers have a personalized Web site customized with the broker's photo, contact information, company logo and unique Web address

If you're a commercial broker, check it out. There are no set-up or ongoing maintenance fees, and each CommercialPlus site includes tools and content designed to increase broker productivity and drive revenue.

Moving to the non-wired world, FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated (NYSE: FCH) continues to demonstrate the improved financial performance showing up across the hospitality industry. The REIT reported second-quarter funds from operations (FFO) of $80.9 million, or $1.20 per share and unit, a record since FelCor became a public company. This compares to last year's second-quarter performance of $80.4 million, or $1.06 per share and unit.

The 13.2 percent increase on a per-share basis exceeded analyst consensus estimates by 11 cents per share and unit.

Even better FFO improvement was demonstrated by General Growth Properties, Inc. (NYSE: GGP), which was up more than 16 percent over the second quarter last year.

Fully diluted FFO per share increased to $1 in the second quarter, compared to 86 cents last year.

"This past quarter proved to be another period in which we have been able to further our mission of creating value in real estate," said John Bucksbaum, CEO of General Growth Properties. "The e.volution of GGP's malls continues and I am pleased to report that our performance continues to accelerate as well. We anticipate a strong finish for retail sales in the year 2000."

There goes that pesky Internet thing again.