CERC SiteFinder, EDDI & CERC ProgramFinder are Connecticut's tools for site location

Whether you are an entrepreneur with a start-up business or a professional site selection consultant doing a search for a fortune 1,000 company, locating available commercial property in Connecticut can seem like a daunting process. However, with help from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC) and its interactive, online tools - CERC SiteFinder, EDDI and CERC ProgramFinder - finding information necessary for the real estate process in Connecticut is easy. CERC SiteFinder is Connecticut's most comprehensive online database of available commercial properties, managed by CERC. Brokers, economic developers and end users can post and search for retail, office, industrial, investment and specialty real estate by visiting www.CTSiteFinder.com. According to Joel Hausman, executive vice president of Colonial Realty, "CERC is a tremendous resource. With over 22 years in real estate, I have extensive knowledge and experience in the marketplace, which is maintained and enhanced with my daily use of SiteFinder." For more than a decade, SiteFinder has been a key tool among hundreds of daily users in the transaction process, resulting in successful deals helping to grow businesses and jobs in Connecticut. The database is searchable free-of-charge, by town, county, entire state or specific address. Once a search is performed, the results include a one-page profile for each property that can be printed or emailed from the system. As part of CERC's public mission there are no barriers to posting properties. Anyone can join as an Associate Member for free and post up to five listings. Full SiteFinder members pay a small fee to post an unlimited number of properties and to have access to special member features. These features include more detailed property profiles with the ability to add their logo, additional photos and files on their listings, access to our Active Needs Log (an online posting of current needs throughout the state), view of properties new to the market and updated properties, and discounted pricing on CERC business lists, mapping and event registration. We also include member properties in a monthly feature of Connecticut Business Magazine. We consider SiteFinder to be a complement to the for-profit listing services now available to the brokerage community, primarily due to our direct connection to economic development in the state. In 2007, SiteFinder had more than 75,000 visitors, 2.3 million page views, and 70,000 property searches by 36% user/tenants and 39% brokers from throughout the U.S. SiteFinder lists more than 2,500 commercial, industrial, retail and investment properties from among 140 member firms and municipalities plus 400 associate members, and has helped generate more than 500 success stories and 16 million s/f of leased, purchased or constructed space during its 11-year history. CERC's newest resource, Economic Development Data and Information (EDDI), a free database consisting of hundreds of data points representing labor force, wages, leading employers, business growth and more is available at www.cerc.com/eddi. The data contained in EDDI is compliant with International Economic Development Council (IEDC) guidelines developed by nationally recognized site selection professionals. CERC works with municipalities and regional organizations to keep EDDI populated and current, allowing communities the opportunity to competitively market themselves to the world, while also increasing the specific online data which site selectors and businesses are seeking, thereby enhancing the marketability of our state. According to statistics from LOIS, which houses data and information web sites for several states including EDDI, Connecticut consistently receives the highest number of visitors, and in 2007, EDDI ranked second among the other states with more than 7,500 visits. CERC also helps connect developers, commercial real estate agents, company representatives and others to important economic development resources, such as CERC ProgramFinder - an online, searchable database of state, federal and private assistance programs indispensable for business recruitment and retention. Housed at www.cerc.com, the database contains information on local, state and federal programs, including public and private sectors, and is searchable by keyword, general categories and state agency. It also contains fact sheets, agency profiles, helpful publications and links to the top five requested programs. In today's highly competitive environment, site selection consultants, corporate real estate executives, and end users alike, require extensive information at their fingertips. Next time that you use the Internet to gather real estate information, consider that Connecticut communities and brokers connected to these online tools are at a significant advantage in today's web-based, global world. Melissa Pasquale is CERC's director of real estate, Rocky, Hill, Conn.