GWEDC aims to reach larger market with Web-based site search feature Wichita Business Journal - January 29th, 2010

The Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition rolled out earlier this month a new feature on its Web site called Location Scout.

It allows prospects from anywhere in the world to instantly access information about commercial real estate sites in the Wichita area.

And local commercial real estate agents say its a good way of getting their inventory on the market in front of a much broader audience.

“Our administrative staff and several of our agents are really excited about it,” says Brad Saville, president of Landmark Commercial Real Estate. “We think the more information that can be shared with the public the better.”

Saville says Landmark has already posted some sites on Location Scout and believes it can be a valuable tool in what has been a soft commercial market.

And it won’t mean any less work for the brokers, says GWEDC President Vicki Pratt Gerbino.

“The brokers are still brought into the loop,” she says. “It’s their building ... That’s who is going to show it. A lot of people want to do that initial research on their own. But, if I fill the building, (the broker) wins.”

Jerry Gray, vice president and general manager at J.P. Weigand & Sons Inc., says his company has already posted some of its listings on Location Scout and has plans to add more.

“From our perspective, it gives our listings more exposure,” Gray says.

And exposure is the name of the game in commercial real estate, says Pat Egan, owner of Egan Realty in Derby.

“It’s just another way of getting what we have out there,” he says.

Egan says he has also posted listings to the site and that he plans to continue doing so.

Data Driven
Pratt Gerbino says the site was constructed by a company called Fast Facility.

GWEDC has an $83,125, three-year contract with Fast Facility, paid for through the U.S. Department of Labor’s WIRED program.

The contract covers both the site construction and the large amount of data the company will be continuously uploading.

Location Scout includes demographic data so prospects can pull up information about a site and the surrounding area, such as the average income and unemployment rate.

“The user can go in and search based on their own parameters and build up all that demographic data however they choose,” Pratt Gerbino says. “The important thing is that the data is there.”

Location Scout
Location Scout is a new site search feature that can be found on the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition’s Web site, www.gwedc.org.
It allows prospects to view available commercial real estate based on their own required parameters and provides a variety of supplemental demographic and technical data about the surrounding area.

Brokers can also have their area listings placed on the site.

For more information, contact David Bossemeyer at (316) 268-1131 or DBossemeyer@gwedc.org.