Sierra Pacific upgrades its Web site of industrial locations

Sierra Pacific Resources has rolled out a major upgrade to a Web site used by companies looking for sites in northern Nevada.

With the upgrade, site selectors using the site now can quickly compile demographic information about the area surrounding potential site locations.

That's increasingly important, particularly as companies want to learn more about the nearby labor force before they choose the site of a new manufacturing or distribution operation, says Grant Sims, manager of economic development for the Reno-based utility.

The data on the site also includes information about wages and the employment potential of workers in the area around a commercial property for sale or lease.

The Geographic Real Estate, Office and Industrial Database GRID, for short lists all the available commercial and industrial property available in northern Nevada.

Its comprehensive nature it covers a wide geography, and lists property from all developers and brokers makes GRID unique in northern Nevada, Sims says.

Sierra Pacific manages the site, relying on e-mailed information about available properties from development companies and commercial real estate brokers.

"It's important that they be able to focus on their bread-and-butter business selling and leasing property," Sims says.

The site is linked to Web site of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.

Each property listing, meanwhile, has a direct link to its broker or developer.

Companies looking for northern Nevada locations can search the site by property size, location and type. Maps and listings of land uses and nearby roadways are included in property listings.

Sims says the site has been averaging more than 16,000 visits a month. (It's at http://econdev.sierrapacific.com/sppc/.) Helping drive that traffic from economic development professionals, he says, was Sierra Pacific's decision to develop the site to standards established by the International Economic Development Council, the profession's leading organization.