Octane Alliance Buys RealtyIQ

The buyout is part of Octane's transition to become an online information exchange for the commercial real estate industry. A CEO will be picked in the next couple of weeks and with that most likely will come a decision on a headquarters location. The Octane Alliance is comprised of New York-based Insignia Financial Group Inc., Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis, Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. and London and Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle. Octane Ventures LLC, the official buyer, is a joint venture of the Octane partners.

RealtyIQ founder Bruce Weissberg had taken his walking papers mid-week, with the buyout closing coming just hours after he had notified his associates that he was stepping down. Fitzpatrick says the delay in confirming the widely rumored takeover had been the result of the need to inform RealtyIQ employees.

The bulk of RealtyIQ's database has come from Cushman & Wakefield Inc. in a 2000 deal that has left the company with an outstanding debt of nearly $18 million to the New York City-based brokerage firm. RealtyIQ's current database consists of more than 225,000 office and industrial properties and in excess of 118,000 digital photographs, representative of more than 16 billion sf of commercial space.

Fitzpatrick says RealtyIQ's database will be assimilated into a transaction platform that Octane is developing. The first phase, he says, will roll out in the fourth quarter, with the remaining components coming over the next two years. The first level will "automate mundane tasks that all parties have to go through," says Fitzpatrick, who also is the executive vice president for the e-commerce interests of CB Richard Ellis.

The ultimate goal, says Fitzpatrick, is to provide "a collaborative, open and neutral exchange for the benefit of all the industry, not just brokers." Fitzpatrick won't comment if a deal is pending to take over Zethus Inc., which had gone belly up in the midst of talks to acquire RealtyIQ. Zethus had hoped to become the industry's primary transaction source.

The RealtyIQ takeover does not preclude third-party providers, such as the CoStar Group, from participating in the effort. Fitzpatrick says those providers ultimately "could help feed" Octane's final product.

Weissberg had founded RealtyIQ in 1991 as RE/Locate. Within six years, its coverage had extended to 32 markets. In 1999, Frontline Capital Group funded the predecessor business and gave it a new name, among other strategic changes. RealtyIQ had shuttered five regional offices in December, keeping about 60 employees on board in Manhattan and Boston, Weissberg has told GlobeSt.com.