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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Buffalo, NY, December 5, 2006

Buffalo Rising and Think Financial Lease First Office in Cobblestone District

Hyperlocal Media (hlm), the publishers of Buffalo Rising, and Think Financial, a provider of custom-tailored student loan products, have agreed to occupy the fourth floor of the Cobblestone Commercial Lofts at 26 Mississippi Street in Buffalo's Cobblestone District.

For Hyperlocal Media, publishers of local media products like Buffalo Rising Magazine and its companion BuffaloRising.com (an influential community website which has received national recognition), this is their first office space.

"Buffalo Rising is three years old and we wanted to grow the business much as we could until we absolutely had to move to an office. We still have much growing to do, but we've scaled past working out of our houses and in cafés," said Newell Nussbaumer, Co-Founder of Hyperlocal Media.

Hyperlocal Media began with just its founders and a small circle of independent contractors. The company has grown to fourteen employees, most full time, and a growing list of local and national contributors. The company's first site, Buffalo Rising, receives over 24,000 unique weekday visits and serves 180,000+ pages daily. The company's first print product, Buffalo Rising Magazine, is published monthly, has a circulation of 75,000 and is distributed over 500 locations throughout Western New York.

HLM plans to launch other local sites in key cities throughout North America beginning with Until Monday: Brooklyn, which launched in public beta this September. HLM will launch Until Monday in two more cities before the end of the year.

For Think Financial, the step is also the result of growth and is a commitment to Buffalo in more ways than one.

"We market our products nationwide, but Buffalo is our home," said Barry Heneghan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Think Financial. "The Cobblestone District just feels like the place where entrepreneurial businesses and startups should be. Both businesses had a vision for what our collective space should be-something that serves the building and the neighborhood. Our office space will be a place where creative professionals and entrepreneurs will enjoy spending lots of time."

26 Mississippi was purchased and redeveloped by Savarino Companies, which relocated its headquarters to the first two floors of the building last spring from a suburban location.

The office lofts at 26 Mississippi are just the beginning of a block long redevelopment; this winter will see the opening of Morrissey's Irish Pub and Snug Coffeehouse at 30 Mississippi, and next year will see the Cobblestone Residential Lofts at 50 Mississippi Street.

" We are ecstatic to have Hyperlocal Media/Buffalo Rising and Think Financial in our building," said Samuel J. Savarino, CEO of Savarino Companies. "They are exactly the kind of exciting, positive people we want to be around, and they mirror our excitement and optimism for development in Buffalo. We congratulate them on their business successes and look forward to being supportive partners for more growth in the future."

The design of the 4th floor space is the work of University of Buffalo professor and architect Brad Wales-a largely open plan that incorporates the innovative use of products carried and made by local vendors like Rigidized Metals and Legno Veneto.

Hlm and Think Financial plan to move into their new space before the end of the year.

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About Savarino Companies
Savarino Companies is a full service construction and real estate development company headquartered in Buffalo's Cobbelstone District. Savarino is engaged in many projects for it self and others in the Buffalo area, including Artspace, the Cobblestone Lofts, Elmwood Village Charter School, the Ross Vision Center, and the Buffalo Medical Arts Center.
savarinocompanies.com

About Think Financial
Think Financial, a start-up student loan marketing company, was founded to help families better afford education. Think Financial provides students and parents with access to custom-tailored loan products designed to make paying for education simple and affordable.
thinkfinancial.com

About Hyperlocal Media
Hyperlocal Media (hlm) was founded out of a passion for cities and the desire to build online communities to serve them. The company creates media properties tailored to the economics of the new local landscape and built around cultural specificity, local relevance and social connectivity. Hyperlocal Media's aim is to be a part of local residents everyday lives and deliver scale, precision and engaged audiences to advertisers. The company relies on its collective experience in traditional local media, consumer Internet, and marketing to create communities of broad or very specific local interest.
hyperlocalmedia.com