"Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected."
—William Plomer

The features in this issue of Real Estate Portfolio are all, in one way or another, about successfully making connections. Our cover story, appropriately titled "Making Connections," takes a look at how real estate companies are rising to the challenge of providing high speed, reliable connections for their tenants to the various avenues on the information superhighway.

In "Telecommuting—A Balancing Act?" we examine the trend among many real estate companies toward offering the option of telecommuting to some of their employees. This option allows employees to connect with their office, outside investors, tenants and other important partners or publics from their homes. Not only does this mean that these employees can attend teleconferenced meetings in their pajamas, but more importantly, it may also help the employees stay better connected to their families by cutting out the long commutes that have become a large part of the workday for many of us.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" explores the proverbially vital connection between location and value in the U.S. real estate market by looking at where development is booming.

Finally, in "Developing Value" Portfolio takes a close-up look at how Cousins Properties Inc. is using strong relationships in joint ventures to keep their development pipeline flowing successfully.

Additionally, we at Real Estate Portfolio have recently opened a new avenue of connection with you, our readers. We have launched our own web site that can be accessed through nareit.com. The new site allows you to access articles, columns and other important information about the REIT and publicly traded real estate industry. Over time, we will be adding new features to the site to enhance our ability to keep you informed about news and developments, technology and other areas of interest. Just as we have been continually working to refine Real Estate Portfolio, we will make the same commitment to enhancing our web presence for the benefit of this industry.