Site Searches Increase While Commercial Real Estate Struggles
10/29/2009
While Connecticut’s commercial real estate community faces challenging trends similar to the rest of the country, the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC) has seen an increase in recent site searches and recently unveiled the newest version of CERC SiteFinder (CTSiteFinder.com).
“Requests for location information have been on the rise the last few months, perhaps indicating there will be new business growth in 18-24 months,” said Melissa Pasquale, CERC’s Director of Real Estate.
The trend coincides with the relaunch of CERC SiteFinder, Connecticut’s most comprehensive commercial real estate database, with many new features that have never before been incorporated into an economic development and business research web site, placing Connecticut at the forefront of attracting business investment.
“CERC’s mission is foremost to help maintain and increase Connecticut’s competitiveness, and our investment into CTSiteFinder.com demonstrates our commitment to keeping this state and its communities at the vanguard of the essential site selection process,” said Bob Santy, CERC President and CEO.
The web site’s groundbreaking features include more sophisticated and flexible location analysis capabilities, and integrated data and mapping functionalities. The geographic information system (GIS) powered web site offers unique interactive mapping capabilities including Google Street View and Google Earth, as well as “heat maps” showing concentrations of demographic data. Available properties can be viewed, along with size, use, cost, development incentives, photos and contact information. Corresponding demographic reports such as labor force, education levels, consumer spending, and age are available, while businesses are mapped by industry showing their distribution and concentrations throughout Connecticut.
Connecticut is the first state in the nation to have this advanced technology built by GIS Planning Inc. integrated with the ability to search for businesses through a national site selection search engine called ZoomProspector.com. When a community or any commercial property in Connecticut matches unique criteria, the user can then click through to CTSiteFinder.com to analyze the business advantages.
According to Anatalio Ubalde, CEO and co-founder of GIS Planning, “CERC is truly driving the economic development industry with the revolutionary capabilities of CTSiteFinder.com. As an industry leader, CERC’s dedication to meeting the needs of Connecticut’s communities through this statewide implementation, and commitment to providing businesses with the important tools to find the right location in Connecticut, are a powerful combination guaranteed to create a competitive advantage. Together, we are excited about the business growth and investment this will generate for the state.”
This also cements CERC’s long-standing partnership between the commercial real estate and economic development communities.
“The newest upgrade of CERC's SiteFinder shows their commitment not only to economic development but also to the commercial brokerage community throughout the state,” said CB Richard Ellis managing director Jeff Livingston. “The site represents a win-win for everyone, while we promote our available properties we are assisting in attracting new and better jobs to the state. It is an essential partnership.”
This free-to-use web site is available at www.CTSiteFinder.com.
About CERC
The Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation and public-private partnership that provides clients with objective research, marketing and economic development services consistent with our mission of making Connecticut a more competitive business location. Visit www.cerc.com for more info.
About GIS Planning, Inc.
GIS Planning Inc., which built CTSiteFinder.com, is on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in the US, with more than 190 economic development organization clients the company serves the majority of the 50 largest cities in the USA, and is an exclusive partner of the International Economic Development Council, the main worldwide economic development membership organization. GIS Planning Inc. has been covered in over 100 leading news publications, including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Washington Post, MSNBC, Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur CNET, and The Associated Press.
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9/1/2009
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10/30/2009
DASHFLASH: Encouraging News for Jobs In Some Connecticut Industry Sectors
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