EDWC just completed migration to our new web-based Sites and Buildings Tool called Guru. Powered by our relationships with GIS WebTech, you will quickly discover enhancements that make this so much more than a place to search out available sites and buildings.
5 Ways to Use the Site Selection Tool
(bet you didn’t think of these!)
1 – Get a sense of what your building / site might be worth in the current commercial market.
EDWC feeds this tool with real-time commercial real estate market information via our investment in the Catylist (a Moody’s Analytics company) database, which is the same resource leveraged by commercial brokers in the area. Click on the “Filters” icon in the Properties search box and set parameters of a building or site that would be comparable to yours. Give yourself a range and don’t hone your variables too tightly. The map and results box will show what the market looks like within criteria you selected. Go ahead, click on a building of interest to get its specs and pricing. Nothing in the market comparable to yours? Well then, priceless!
2 – Get property ownership, assessment and recorded information on a parcel / building of interest.
EDWC has partnered with Washington County and its GIS department to feed select layers of interest, like parcel information. In the map window, select Layers, then Property Features and Ownership, then Parcels with Assessment Data. Use the map to zoom into a parcel of interest and click on that parcel. It will highlight and open a parcel information box that will show you property details, ownership, assessment and recorded information. There are also links in the box to more detailed records on the parcel…like tax bills.
3 – Check for traffic counts…a critical market / activity indicator.
Sometimes you want traffic; sometimes you don’t. But, whatever the case, don’t be surprised. Zoom to your location of interest in the map window. Click Layers, then Transportation, then Wisconsin DOT Traffic Counts. Map roads where traffic counts are taken will have a red line next to them. Click on the red line in a location of interest and a segment will highlight with a info box opening. AADT means Annual Average Daily Traffic; AADT Combination is the same count but for a semi with trailer; and AADT Single Unit means the count for a box like truck (think your typical delivery vehicle).
4 – Investigate a site (including your own property) where you might want to expand or build.
Flood areas, wetlands, zoning, soils…you know the data is out there, but, man-o-Friday, it is stupidly hard to find. When you do, it is tough to interpret. Well, not anymore if EDWC has anything to say about it. Zoom to the site you want to investigate. Click on Layers and you will see a bevy of graphical information EDWC has curated for you. Flood hazard areas and wetlands are found in the Environment tab. There is also mapping for infrastructure, broadband, zoning, various boundaries.
5 – Find redevelopment sites not found on anyone else’s radar…yet.
Want to preserve farmland and grow your business on a site that likely has some built-in incentives? Well, EDWC and the county’s Site Redevelopment Coalition (a collaboration of area communities and the county) inventoried and prioritized “brownfield” sites and mapped them in this tool. No worries. “Brownfield” is not a dirty word; rather, perhaps your next best opportunity. We have been very successful in partnering with local businesses and developers to overcome perception and redevelop an existing site at far higher levels of ROI than the alternatives. In the map window, select Layers; then Environment; then BRNFLD_SITES_2019. You may have to zoom in or out on the map a bit to see them identified. We have some unique and lucrative financial tools that can contribute to your next project on these sites.
