NEW YORK CITY-Add the Empire State Development Corp. to a fairlyshort list of economic development organizations worldwide to makea searchable property and socioeconomic database available on theweb. More than just property listings, though, the website,newyorkstate.zoomprospector.com, provides access to local marketinformation that might otherwise take weeks to put together.

In a release announcing the new website, which went live thispast Tuesday, ESDC chairman & CEO Dennis Mullen says it has“very real implications for the business community as it providesinstant access to detailed site selection data, increasing NewYork's capacity to respond more efficiently and effectively tobusinesses looking to expand or relocate here.” Data including realestate, demographic and industry breakdowns are available free ofcharge for New York City and other cities statewide, along with acentral database of available properties with images.

The impetus for launching such a site is “the challengingeconomic times that we’re in,” Anatalio Ubalde, CEO of SanFrancisco-based GIS Planning, who developed the new site, tellsGlobeSt.com. “The state of New York and the country in general haslost a lot of jobs, which has resulted in significant retail,commercial, industrial vacancy. States like New York are being veryproactive in finding ways that they can create jobs, attractbusiness and grow business. If they can assist those businesses, ithelps everybody.” Mullen concurs, telling GlobeSt.com, “In order tocompete on a national and international basis, there are thesetypes of tools made available to organizations like us all over theglobe, and it was clearly incumbent upon us to take advantage ofthis.”