Real Estate Heavyweights Pump $25 Mil Into E-Procurer FacilityPro.com

CHICAGO- Constellation Real Technologies, formerly known as Project Constellation, has made its first investment, a $25-million deal with Atlanta-based e-procurement concern FacilityPro.com. Commercial real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle, which is part of the 11-member consortium of real estate heavy-hitters that make up Constellation’s backers, says that its $30 million investment in e-procurer SiteStuff does not conflict with the FacilityPro investment.

“Our initiative with SiteStuff , which we are undertaking along with our partners CB Richard Ellis and Trammell Crow, is a vertical initiative, which means we will be using it to bring operating cost savings at Jones Lang LaSalle,” says Mark Rose, chief innovation officer at Jones Lang LaSalle. “At Constellation we are simply investors. Constellation will be making a broad range of investments related to real estate technology development.”

While Rose sees no conflict for Jones Lang LaSalle, FacilityPro.com and Austin, TX-based SiteStuff.com are likely to become fierce competitors in the emerging market for electronic purchasing of real estate goods and services, or e-procurement. Mark Rose’s boss, Bill Sullivan, newly appointed e-business chief at Jones Lang LaSalle, recently told Globest.com that he expects his firm will save as much as 15% on annual procurement costs with the SiteStuff initiative.

Constellation Real Technologies, whose leading members include Midwest REIT behemoths Simon Properties and Equity Office and Residential REITS, is capitalized at $135 million. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which is both an investor in and advisor to Constellation, is seeking out a management team for Constellation, which is expected to be based in San Francisco.

Other investors in Constellation, which is essentially an investment vehicle for the partners, are CB Richard Ellis, Trammell Crow, AMB Property, Kaufman & Broad and Chase Manhattan Bank

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