South Florida retail landlord Beth Azor is such a fan of the TV show Shark Tank that she decided to apply the show’s format, in which entrepreneurs pitch business plans to possible investors, to retail real estate. In her version, small businesses can pitch to shopping center landlords for free pop-up space.

Last night, Azor held an event called Space Tank on the trending social platform Clubhouse. The event introduced 141 entrepreneurs and mom-and-pops that desire retail space to 51 landlords of all sizes and footprints that wish to donate vacant spots for three months.

Among the landords were Tanger, Brookfield, Kimco Realty, Phillips Edison & Co., Urban Edge Properties, Brixmor, Federal, Simon and Westfield. The prospective pop-up tenants ranged from home decor and apparel retailers to a talent management studio and a restaurant space run by culinary students. Interested property owners grilled the business owners to decide if they’d match.

Any potential matches are picking up their conversations now off-platform, and landlords who agree to matches will commit to 90 days of free rent. In return, the small businesses will pay for desired capital improvements, utilities, insurance and a one-month security deposit. Azor herself offered up space at each of her shopping centers that has availability.

She has seen a lot of demand for pop-up space at her properties during COVID-19. Of the leases she signed in late 2020, six were for temporary space so the tenant could test the market without taking major financial risk. Two of the six have converted to longer-term leases at market-rate rents, she said. “I thought, ‘I don’t have money to invest in small businesses, but I do have something that is just as valuable, vacant space, and more than usual because of the pandemic,’” Azor said.

Space Tank generated a wealth of connections. Several landlords offered space to one entrepreneur, for example, who wished to relocate her tutoring service from Cleveland to Florida. Azor told SCT that throughout the night, “30 small businesses got a ‘tap’ from over 50 shopping center owners for both open-air and traditional mall space. Many small businesses were being courted, which is a wonderful thing to hear.”

Azor’s event leverages the buzzy Clubhouse platform, which is available in beta mode for iPhone users by invite only at this point. The platform features seemingly infinite, themed, audio “rooms,” where users can drop in to listen to the discussions. For Space Tank, the new, virtual platform aided deal making without making people nostalgic for the old way of connecting. “Not one of the entrepreneurs mentioned ‘COVID’ or ‘pandemic,’” Azor said.

She plans to hold future Space Tank events on Clubhouse, perhaps honing them with regional focuses.