Buffalo Niagara Commercial Listing System (BNCLS) gains momentum in WNY

As the Buffalo Niagara Commercial Listing System (BNCLS) continues to attract new members and listings, one of western New York's first commercial real estate marketing platforms is well on its way to achieving critical mass. Since officially going "live" last November, the BNCLS now has over 40 paid members throughout the region (with new members coming on board each week) who are marketing their exclusive commercial listings both locally and to an increasingly attentive national and international audience of investors and site selectors. The BNCLS is powered by Catylist/ "Commercial IQ," one of the nation's leading marketing-based, centralized property listing databases and web-based communication platforms. The Commercial IQ national marketplace is designed to connect commercial real estate brokers, owners, investors, and businesses to buy, sell, and lease commercial property. Commercial IQ contains thousands of listings nationwide, posted by local associations, brokerage firms and individual commercial professionals from across the country and receives over a half-million searches by visitors monthly. Aggregating over 200,000 listings from more than 40 local markets across the nation and 80,000 commercial real estate professionals, members of the BNCLS are also gaining exposure for their exclusive listings on over 65 high-profile websites via Commercial IQ's exclusive distribution matrix, including Google Base, MyNextDeal, and REBusinessOnline.com The BNCLS has been in development since early 2006, when Richard Tobe, city of Buffalo Commissioner of Economic Development, approached the WNY chapter of the NYSCAR to ask the question, "How can the city and the commercial real estate community work more efficiently together?" According to then-WNYSCAR president Eric Tudor, "The WNY commercial real estate community had been talking for years about developing a listing system exclusively for commercial properties. But Rich Tobe's keen interest gave us the impetus we needed to make a concerted effort to seriously address the issue. From there, the race was on to conduct research into a platform that could "house" our data. Ironically at that same time, the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise was exploring a new database to collect commercial real estate information for their economic development and site selection needs, since the NYS Site Finder website was difficult to navigate. So WNYSCAR and BNE decided to join forces to look into a system. We discovered Catylist's "Commercial IQ" system, were initially very impressed with its functionality, we thoroughly researched and vetted it, and the rest, as they say, is history." When the WNYSCAR president's mantle passed from Eric Tudor to Kristin Badger-Bach in 2007, Badger-Bach kept up the momentum and brought BNCLS across the goal line. She said, "2007 was a watershed year for us. After a remarkable amount of hard work from dedicated professionals in the local commercial real estate and economic development community, WNYSCAR was successful in bringing on board what I call our 'charter membership' brokerage houses to make a strong initial showing — Coldwell Banker Commercial Meridian Real Estate, Hunt Commercial Real Estate, RealtyUSA Commercial Division, and Hastings + Cohn Real Estate. We now have over 40 members, and the developers are jumping on board too. It's interesting to note that one of our area's largest developer/brokers, Ciminelli Real Estate Corp., was encouraged to join BNCLS when their Tampa, Florida office recommended the Commercial IQ system to Ciminelli's Williamsville, N.Y. headquarters!" Badger-Bach said, "And we'll be making a big splash this fall with a special event designed to showcase the BNCLS system and attract new members. We want to illustrate via a 'big screen' demonstration not only how easy the system is to use, but what a powerful business tool we have at our disposal. The BNCLS's high-speed, targeted marketing exposure is helping the Buffalo Niagara region shift its image from an underestimated and misunderstood market to building a reputation among site selectors as one of the top choices in the nation for its magnificent waterways, affordability, livability, natural beauty, architectural and cultural assets, and smart, hard-working, talented people. The region has received high marks in every relocation ranking category and now has a comprehensive commercial real estate portal that will allow users everywhere to learn about its commercial real estate opportunities and wealth of regional assets." Anyone wishing to access the BNCLS database for commercial property searches may do so free of charge by visiting www.buffaloniagaraCLS.com. Realtors may list their exclusive commercial property listings by joining BNCLS. For membership information, contact the CLS administrator's office, Rabia Fournier, (716) 636-9000, [email protected]. For further information or questions, contact Badger-Bach at (716)880-1901 or [email protected].