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Briefly Noted
Konover to launch online shopping site

Community and outlet center owner Konover
Property Trust is embracing the World Wide Web, planning a soft launch this fall for the first online shopping site created by a shopping center company. The site, www.truefinds.com, will feature top brand name family apparel, home fashions, gifts and fashion accessories.

Initially, goods will be offered to a limited audience, with three to five retailers set to test the customer-service component. A full launch is planned for the first quarter of next year.

The site will offer wares from the manufacturers and traditional brands from the 162 centers owned and operated by the Cary, N.C.-based developer. Truefinds.com will be promoted at Konover's centers, while the Website will offer promotional incentives to visit the bricks-and-mortar stores.

"Unlike other shopping sites, we have experience with merchants through our 162 shopping centers," said Charlotte Ellis, SCMD, Konover's senior vice president of marketing. "The ability to leverage the brick-and-mortar with our online strategy makes this an entirely different animal."

The retailers will control the product presentation at the Website, allowing them to incorporate their own design elements.

The site development team included Ernst & Young LLP, Interpath Communications and Ryan Drossman/MARC USA, the New York-based advertising firm that launched Moviefone and TheStreet.com.

Wetlands bill progresses

In a major victory for the development community, the House of Representatives passed in late July the Energy & Water Appropriations bill, which includes language drafted and/or approved by ICSC and other real estate organizations. The bill compels the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to adopt an appeals program that permits jurisdictional determinations on wetlands building to be appealed to a higher level in the Corps.

In another win, the Corps has been required by Congress to complete a study on proposed changes in the Nationwide Permit program within 30 days of going final with new permits. Most developers currently obtain the right to build on wetlands under the Clean Water Act using NWP 26, allowing the filling of less than three acres in "headwaters and isolated waters." The Corps had proposed replacing this program with six "activity-specific" nationwide permits, following that proposal with more restrictions. ICSC and other real estate organizations had objected on the grounds that specific definitions of various wetland types were not given in the proposal. In addition, ICSC contends, the Corps does not have sufficient staffing to handle the permit requests, delaying the development process. In April, members of ICSC's Environmental Subcommittee met with key legislators on Capitol Hill regarding these topics (SCT, June 1999). The bill next goes to the Conference Committee, comprised of representatives from the House and the Senate.

Rebuilding Beirut

Talk about interesting new locations for malls --
Las Vegas-based Star Entertainment Group has announced plans to build a 100,000-square-foot
entertainment center in Beirut, Lebanon. The project will consist of four restaurants, a 500-seat theater,
children's arcade, billiards parlor with martini and cigar bar, a gaming area and nightclub. As yet unnamed, the center will be built on beachfront property owned by the Roman Catholic church. Opening is set for 2000. Beirut, once called "the Paris of the Middle East" because of its architecture and sophistication, but more recently referred to as "war-torn," is attempting to rebuild as a tourism and business center.