Classified Ventures has acquired Visual Properties, L.L.C., which through its Apartments Plus service is a leading provider of interactive online apartment listings and relocation information. Classified Ventures will build upon the success of Apartments Plus to create, with the mission of launching what representatives hope will be the nation's most complete Internet resource for apartment renters and property managers.

The Apartments Plus service, since launching in Chicago in January 1997, has rapidly expanded its reach, currently providing information about more than 600,000 apartments in more than 34 states.

Classified Ventures, a partnership of The Times Mirror Company, Tribune Company, and The Washington Post Company, is dedicated to expanding newspapers' position as the nation's leading suppliers of classified advertising and related information via Internet technologies.

"This acquisition positions Classified Ventures as the premier source for the apartment rental market," says Jack Fuller, president of Tribune Publishing Company and Classified Ventures board member. "Since Apartments Plus has proven technology and a successful existing business, it accelerates our ability to help publishers immediately take their apartment classified franchise online to realize their unique competitive advantages in the $15 billion classified market, locally and nationally."

In March 1998, Apartments Plus will change its name to apartments.com. The existing Apartments Plus Internet site will be redesigned and its location on the Internet will become www.apartments.com. The partners expect apartments.com to become the strongest national brand in the online apartment segment.

Apartments.com will build on the existing distribution of Apartments Plus, which already holds rights to key online positions including exclusive partnerships with AOL and AT&T WorldNet, keyword ownership like "apartment" and "rent" on important search engines like Alta Vista and AOL NetFind, and strategic advertising positions including banners and sponsorships.

As with Classified Ventures' first industry initiative, Cars.Com, other newspaper publishers will be invited to participate in apartments.com. Classified Ventures will help each newspaper build upon its existing content in the apartment rental category to create the most complete, current, and useful online inventory of apartment listings and related information. Affiliate newspapers can also link to the national apartments.com site for added distribution.

"Visual Properties was the obvious choice to partner with Classified Ventures," says Tim Landon, acting chief executive officer of Classified Ventures. "Its Apartments Plus service, with its deep visual content and built-in audience, is unmatched in the industry and in less than a year has developed a strong presence in key markets."

"Our vision is to become the category leader for online apartment and relocation information -- serving renters, property managers, and those with services to offer the rental market," says Bruce Mitchell, president and general manager of apartments.com. "This strategic partnership provides the additional content, distribution, and marketing resources to hasten our growth and achieve our goals."

Apartments Plus' award-winning proprietary technology called OASIS (Online Apartment Search and Information System) allows apartment-hunters to customize an online search and take a virtual tour through the most visual listings online. Each listing has full-color photos of the exterior, common areas, and each room of every model plus floorplans.

"We provide powerful new marketing and leasing tools for property managers and a targeted medium for advertisers of related products and services," says Dean Rutter, founder of Visual Properties and the new chief operations officer of apartments.com. "Movers, home furnishers, financial services, insurance properties, and others will find real value in the market created around apartments.com."

Visual Properties, based in Chicago, is an interactive media company that currently serves the multifamily housing industry through its Apartments Plus service. Apartments Plus is currently located on the Internet at www.apartmentsplus.com and www.apartments.com.

In addition to apartments.com, each Classified Ventures partner independently offers related services such as Times Mirror's Apartment Search apartment referral service, Tribune's Relcon apartment referral service and apartment publications, and The Washington Post's telephone referral service, Apartments Plus, as well as the Apartment Showcase print apartment referral guide.