E Newsletter December 2007
GRE Launches Innovative Online Mapping Tool with Support from Finger Lakes Wired
Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), an economic development organization dedicated to revitalizing the Rochester regional economy, unveiled a new service today on its website, www.RochesterBiz.com, to provide senior business executives, site selectors, and corporate real estate brokers with even more detailed information on the advantages of doing business in the Greater Rochester, NY Region. GRE is the first in New York State and one of a select group of economic development organizations around the country to publicly offer this service.
With the click of a mouse, business leaders may now view commercial sites and buildings available in the Greater Rochester, NY Region's nine counties, as well as corresponding "dot on a map" demographic analysis reports, business analysis and dynamic mapping. This information is customized to deliver data within a selected mile radius or drive time to a specific site or building.
These enhancements to GRE's website, www.RochesterBiz.com, were made possible through support from National Grid and Finger Lakes Wired.
These new features expedite and simplify the process of business attraction and site selection for expanding and relocating businesses. It does so by efficiently answering the main questions business leaders have when they are conducting a site selection analysis: These questions include:
- What sites and buildings are available in your community that fit my specific business criteria?
- What are the market characteristics (demographic, available workforce, cost of labor)?
- What are the business synergies and opportunities in unique locations of your community?
- What are the unique geographic characteristics and advantages?
"By adding these new enhanced features to GRE's website, www.RochesterBiz.com, we've moved beyond a simple database of available sites and buildings that approximately 90 percent of competing communities deliver. We now offer the needed site selection analysis that businesses require to identify the advantages and business opportunities in our community -- something that only 10% of regions across the U.S. offer," said Dennis M. Mullen, President and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise.
"National Grid is proud to support this exciting new initiatives, " said Brian Anderson, Senior Economic Developer, National Grid. "We are always looking to partner with regional economic development organizations such as GRE to promote Upstate NY's competitive advantages and to grow our regional economies."
"Part of our mission at Finger Lakes WIRED is to educate those from outside the area about our region's core assets in an effort to grow businesses and create jobs," said Matthew Hurlbutt, managing director, Finger Lakes WIRED. "GRE's new online mapping tool will ensure that site selectors and corporate real estate brokers throughout the country have the information they need to make an informed decision."
At the heart of this new free service is powerful technology, designed to seamlessly and immediately integrate business data that typically would take weeks to compile. The Greater Rochester, NY Region is the first in New York State to publicly deliver this innovative service.
"We know that 80 percent of the site selection process takes place on the web, prior to ever speaking with an economic development organization," Mullen said. "It is critically important to deliver this type of real-time data in a fashion that highlights our region's competitive advantages over other areas of the country.
"Business success is often influenced by making wiser decisions faster than your competition," Mullen added. "Through GRE's website, www.RochesterBiz.com, we've put the information businesses need to make a site selection decision at their fingertips. It is a tremendous value to the business community and gives the Greater Rochester, NY Region an advantage over the majority of other communities around the country."
Specific enhancements that are now available:
- Available Property Site Selection Query – online search for available commercial properties based on user-defined information such as square footage, acreage, type of facility.
- Demographic Radius Analysis – demographic analysis from any location within the project geography based on user-defined distance criteria, i.e. drive time, miles from the selected site. Site-specific data regarding consumer expenditures, employment wages, business and workforce also provided.
- Demographic Drive-time Analysis – user-defined drive-time demographic analysis from any location within the project geography. Site-specific data regarding consumer expenditures, employment wages, business and workforce also provided.
- Business Reports – user-defined reports from any location within the project geography that identify nearby businesses that could be suppliers or competition.
- Dynamic Mapping – Ability to zoom in/out, pan and identify information on the map.
- Locator Map – geographical map showing the location of the property as a point within the Rochester Region's nine counties.
- Property Owner and Real Estate Broker Property Listing Web Page – brokers marketing available property will be able to add, delete and update their properties through a user-friendly web site using a log-in and password system.
About GRE:
Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) is a public-private partnership established to professionally market the Rochester metropolitan region as a competitive, high-profile place for business location and growth. Its efforts support business attraction and expansion, as well as entrepreneurship and innovation. GRE collaborates with businesses, universities, not-for-profit organizations and government leaders to ensure a unified approach to regional economic development. For more information, please go to www.RochesterBiz.com.
November 2007
