Classified Ventures Acquires Visual Properties and its Leading Apartment Rental and Relocation Online Service -- Apartments Plus.CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 1998-- Publishers To Develop apartments.com, a National Online Apartment Service Classified Ventures has acquired Visual Properties L.L.C., which through its Apartments Plus service is a leading provider of interactive online apartment listings and relocation RELOCATION, Scotch law, contracts. To let again to renew a lease, is called a relocation. 2. When a tenant holds over after the expiration of his lease, with the consent of his landlord, this will amount to a relocation. information. Classified Ventures will build upon the success of Apartments Plus to create apartments.com, the nation's most complete Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the resource for apartment renters and property managers. The Apartments Plus service, since launching in Chicago Chicago, city, United States Chicago (shĭkä`gō, shĭkô`gō), city (1990 pop. 2,783,726), seat of Cook co., NE Ill., on Lake Michigan; inc. 1837. in January January: see month. 1997, has rapidly expanded its reach, currently providing information about more than 600,000 apartments in over 34 states. Classified Ventures, a partnership of The Times Mirror Company, Tribune Company The Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, responsible for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Hartford Courant and The Washington Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. Post Company, is dedicated to expanding newspapers' position as the nation's leading suppliers of classified advertising and related information via Internet technologies. "This acquisition positions Classified Ventures as the premier source for the apartment rental market," said Jack Fuller, president of Tribune Publishing Tribune Publishing is a group of newspapers located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a publishing conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. Company and Classified Ventures board member. "Since Apartments Plus has proven technology and a successful existing business, it accelerates our ability to help publishers immediately take their apartment classified franchise online to realize their unique competitive advantages in the $15 billion classified market, locally and nationally." In March 1998, Apartments Plus will change its name to apartments.com. The existing Apartments Plus Internet site will be redesigned and its location on the Internet will become www.apartments.com. The partners expect apartments.com to become the strongest national brand in the online apartment segment. apartments.com will build on the existing distribution of Apartments Plus, which already holds rights to key online positions including: exclusive partnerships with AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. and AT&T WorldNet See AT&T WorldNet. , keyword ownership like "apartment" and "rent" on important search engines like Alta Vista See AltaVista. (World-Wide Web) Alta Vista - A World-Wide Web site provided by Digital which features a very fast Web and Usenet search engine. As of April 1996 its word index is 33GB in size. and AOL NetFind Netfind - A research prototype that provides a simple Internet "white pages" user directory. It runs on SunOS 4.0 or more recent systems that are connected to the Internet (however, you can run Netfind on one server at your site, and let the others use Netfind on that server). , and strategic advertising positions including banners and sponsorships. As with Classified Ventures' first industry initiative, cars.com, other newspaper publishers will be invited to participate in apartments.com. Classified Ventures will help each newspaper build upon its existing content in the apartment rental category to create the most complete, current and useful online inventory of apartment listings and related information. Affiliate newspapers can also link to the national apartments.com site for added distribution. "Visual Properties was the obvious choice to partner with Classified Ventures," said Tim Landon, acting chief executive officer, Classified Ventures. "Its Apartments Plus service, with its deep visual content and built-in audience, is unmatched in the industry and in less than a year has developed a strong presence in key markets." "Our vision is to become the category leader for online apartment and relocation information - serving renters, property managers and those with services to offer the rental market," said Bruce Mitchell Bruce Mitchell may be:
v. has·tened, has·ten·ing, has·tens v.intr. To move or act swiftly. v.tr. 1. To cause to hurry. 2. our growth and achieve our goals." Apartments Plus' award-winning proprietary technology called OASIS (Online Apartment Search and Information System) allows apartment hunters to customize an online search and take a virtual tour through the most visual listings online. Each listing has full-color photos of the exterior, common areas, and each room of every model plus floorplans. "We provide powerful new marketing and leasing tools for property managers and a targeted medium for advertisers of related products and services," said Dean Rutter, founder of Visual Properties and the new chief operations officer of apartments.com. "Movers, home furnishers, financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , insurance providers and others will find real value in the market created around apartments.com." Visual Properties, based in Chicago, is an interactive media company that currently serves the multifamily housing industry through its Apartments Plus service. Apartments Plus is currently located on the Internet at www.apartmentsplus.com and www.apartments.com. In addition to apartments.com, each Classified Ventures partner independently offers related services such as Times Mirror's Apartment Search apartment referral service, Tribune's Relcon apartment referral service and apartment publications, and The Washington Post's telephone referral service, Apartments Plus, as well as the Apartment Showcase print apartment referral guide. Classified Ventures, based in Chicago, is a partnership of The Times Mirror Company, Tribune Company, and The Washington Post Company. Classified Ventures provides solutions using Internet technologies that help newspapers expand their position as the nation's leading suppliers of classified advertising and related content. The company operates cars.com, apartments.com and in addition will expand into other classified categories. CONTACT: Ernie Clark Classified Ventures 312/575-2726 eclark@classifiedventures.com OR Laura Suciu Apartments Plus 773/348-4222, ext. 225 lms@visprop.com OR Rashmi Turner Ketchum Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most 312/228-6889 rashmi.turner@ketchum.com |
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