Garrick-Aug unveils retail leasing technology center.

Giving the retail leasing industry a major head start into the new millennium, Garrick-Aug Store Leasing Associates, Inc. recently inaugurated its Technology Center, believed to be the only facility of its kind dedicated to retail space users.

"We are revolutionizing and greatly refining the methodology of retail site selection," says Charles Aug, chairman of the retail brokerage firm. "In doing so, we will demonstrate to our clients the huge benefits of outsourcing all but the final decision-making stages of the site selection process."

The Technology Center, with its sophisticated modeling and database software and its elaborate visual capabilities, cost more than $1 million to develop. It enables its users to view and analyze thousands of potential retail sites within more than 300 retail districts in the tri-state region.

Aided by five visual screens, the system creates a "virtual reality environment," Aug says, which precludes the time and expense of on-site visits and data gathering "for the tedious initial elimination process."

Peter Botsaris, president of Garrick-Aug, notes that the visuals and data can be teleconferenced to remote viewers, "so that it isn't even necessary to be in the Technology Center for the analysis."

"This is an especially helpful attribute for retailers who are hundreds or even thousands of miles from New York, and perhaps are contemplating expansion into multiple sites here," Botsaris explains. "The ability to make accurate remote analyses to eliminate sites and zero in on the best candidates before coming here will provide an enormous advantage."

Aug says building owners will benefit indirectly from the Technology Center, because the streamlined site selection process will help bring about shorter and more efficiently executed lease-up periods. "More time will be devoted to serious tenant prospects, who are there because they already understand the positive attributes with respect to their operations," he says.

Aug explains that Garrick-Aug's elaborate database is constructed on a "polygon model," which provides an all-inclusive approach to analysis for any given client.

"Traditional models examine three- and then five-mile rings around a site or a trade area," he says. "Our model is far more comprehensive, accounting for everything from natural boundaries - waterways or a line of steep hills, for example - to highway access and speed limits, vehicle and pedestrian traffic counts, competitive volume, etc., all of which helps to define a more appropriate trade area."

"This model allows for an unlimited number of characteristics to a particular trade area," Aug adds, "which then becomes individualized and uniquely related to the client's business. Polygon trade areas provide the most accurate projections of a trade area's drawing power."

The Garrick-Aug chairman says he expects the Technology Center "to set the standard for retail lease consulting for years to come. We have achieved a major head start into the next millennium."