John Zsolt's Vision For Space Database

Space Database was founded on the simple but powerful idea that something as basic as a CAD file could add value to a building.

John Zsolt came up with the idea for Space Database during the real estate recession of the 90's. No one was hiring newly minted architects at that time so John created his own job. As a self-employed designer, John worked on basic office interiors. Conventional wisdom dictated that a designer would measure a space and create a base drawing to work from - every single time there was a change in the building. John thought there had to be a better way.

Through his real estate connections, John observed how landlords struggled with the task of calculating area for rents. Property managers used measuring tape, grid paper and calculators. Was this accurate? There had to be a better way.

Around this time, CAD was becoming mainstream. Most architects used it simply to speed up the drafting process. John saw that it opened up new possibilities. What if a landlord had a complete set of accurate surveyed CAD files? What if these files could be easily distributed to designers? Once set up, these files would be easy to maintain even if there was a great deal of change in the building.

John's insight was that landlords did not just need buildings surveyed, they also needed tools to leverage the data created; tools to help them improve business processes.

Over the years we have built on this idea to the point where we support several aspects of commercial real estate through outsourced information management solutions.

We help managers make more informed decisions. Managing a portfolio of buildings as financial assets is very difficult. It requires quick access to complex interrelated data. Lease Dashboard presents data at every level of a portfolio, from overall performance metrics, to detailed stacking plans through to lease abstracts and floor plans. Using Dashboard helps Space Database clients make better investment decisions.

We save time and money for building operations. Tenant improvement work can be slow and expensive if documentation on technical systems is incomplete. INDEXIO organizes a myriad of old electronic and paper building documents into a simple, accessible and easy to use resource. Timely access to archival documents saves time for property managers and saves money on consulting fees.

We provide powerful marketing and leasing tools. In a competitive leasing market, it becomes increasingly difficult for leasing managers to stand out and engage prospective clients. Buildings hosted with Space Database benefit from accurate CAD files, 3D marketing drawings, data driven stacking plans and web ads in mainstream media. Space Database delivers a significant marketing edge by leveraging the information that landlords already have.

In each of these cases, we don't simply provide a service. We provide a service that integrates to, and supports a key business process. Just as John did when he came up with the idea of managing CAD files, we are thinking about how to make our clients more effective at what they do.

Space Database is far from finished. We still have lots of ambitious plans and ideas that we are working on. It is such a tragedy that John will not be here to see them through.

The Space Database team is dedicated to realizing John's vision. We are committed to building a company the way that John would have wanted it done.