In December, IAMC will launch a service to help Active members deal with their surplus properties. The Surplus Property Clearinghouse (SPC) is a Web-based tool

Companies with surplus properties can certainly empathize with and learn from the Dept. of Defense's experience in the aftermath of multiple BRAC rounds. But the upshot can be promising, as at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center on the former Joliet (Ill.) Arsenal property. The distribution center of Potlatch Corp., pictured above in 2003, was soon joined by a tissue converting plant next door.

SPC is a product of IAMC's Education and Research Committee, which is co-chaired by Phil Hammel, director of real estate at Honeywell, and Pat McKee, vice president of Equis Corporation. But it's really the brainchild of Kathy Shanteau, real estate manager at Holcim, who came up with the idea during a discussion at the Memphis Professional Forum. According to McKee, "Kathy mentioned the idea at lunch. We engaged others at the table in a discussion of its potential value. The Actives were very enthusiastic."

McKee placed the SPC proposal before IAMC's board of directors at its next meeting, where it won broad support.

The project's planning, development and execution have all been carried out by members. The SPC Task Group consists of Shanteau, chair, as well as IAMC board member Scott Reed, Anheuser-Busch; Lisa Speltz, Nestle Waters North America; IAMC board member Robert Duncan, CB Richard Ellis; and John Horan, Coldwell Banker/Feist and Feist. An initial concern was that some Associate members might view SPC as competing with their own companies' property databases. Rather, it is designed to complement those efforts. This principle and several others helped the Task Group define and develop the service.

The Task Group felt SPC should be simple and easy to use. It will be searchable by property type, size, location, type of access, and more. But it will have fewer bells and whistles than offered by the commercial real estate brokerage companies. The SPC database will only be populated with listings from IAMC Active members. The Actives, or their service providers, will do their own posting — it's a self-service product.

The SPC Task Force did not want the database to become stale with outdated information. Items in the database must be updated at least every six months, or the person posting the information will automatically be e-mailed requesting that the information be updated. Failing this, the posting comes off line and goes into the archives. Listings will be secured by username and password and can be modified or removed only by the Active member who posted them.

Some Active members' companies maintain Web sites for surplus properties. SPC will have a special page for links to these sites. Initially, SPC will be accessible only by IAMC members. It is envisioned that in the near future the database will be Web-based and accessible to a larger audience.

Finally, the SPC Task Group designed SPC to operate at a very low administrative and operating cost to IAMC.

IAMC members can expect Surplus Property Clearinghouse's rollout in December 2005. Each member will receive an e-mail announcing SPC's launch date and giving instructions for accessing it. According to Shanteau, "We need to get it out to the members to use for a while. Then, we anticipate there may be enhancements to it as we learn how it's used and how we can make it better."