. >> susie: developer sam zell ran into the same problem. >> i remember, in the early days, calling institutions and their response was, "we don't invest in real estate. we don't buy real estate companies." >> susie: that's when cooper came up with a radical plan-- he decided to take kimco public with a stock offering. >> an i.p.o. gives you permanent, non-fickle capital. and it also creates an entity that could continue indefinitely, and motivate-- have shares that could be given away, stock options, motivate people. those were the principal advantages. >> susie: so, was it your idea? >> going public was not new-- there was public companies. what was new-- it was very difficult for real estate companies to become public. because real estate was such a dirty word, and it was held in such low esteem by the investing public. >> susie: to change that image, cooper had another brainstorm-- why not offer kimco stock as a real estate investment trust, or reit? reits weren't a new investment-- they had been authorized by congress 30 years before to encourage public ownership of real estate. they were l