There's No Such Thing As... Remember the hot business model a few years back called "bricks-and-clicks"? The idea was that combining a bricks-and-mortar business and the Internet was a better strategy than just "clicks" alone. Well, hello. That sure turned out to be true. But I've always thought that the idea had great merit anyway because so few existing businesses really leveraged the Internet.

One real estate information service that has successfully combined "bricks and clicks" is MrOfficeSpace, part of the Yale Robbins, Inc., family of publications, which includes Office Building Magazine, a print pictorial directory covering seventeen major markets in ten Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states. While all information at MrOfficeSpace is offered free to visitors (after you register), the company does private label listings at web sites for a fee. See, for example, Newmark and Jack Resnick & Sons. Last week, Henry Robbins demonstrated some of MrOfficeSpace's newly added features.

Let's say that you want to lease 10,000 to 15,000 square feet in Midtown Manhattan and that you'd like to be in the Grand Central submarket. After you input these criteria (and there are many others available) you'll quickly see that the database searched 1,557 buildings and found 46 with 113 spaces that qualify. You can then save, print and e-mail this report, and, as long as your search is active, you'll be notified by e-mail when new space becomes available. MrOfficeSpace seeks to update listings every 21 days and offers coverage for Metropolitan New York City, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Boston (soon). Hey, maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch.

--Peter Pike