Real Estate and Location Specialist

Position Summary

The Real Estate & Location Specialist serves as the organization’s point person for site-selection and commercial real estate related requests. This includes the oversight and management of the Wisconsin’s Certified Sites Program, LocateInWisconsin.com property database, managing the intake and response development for Requests for Proposals/Information that come from corporate real estate executives or decision makers seeking to invest or expand in Wisconsin, and providing internal support, expertise and coordination for Business & Investment Attraction projects. Working closely with the Business & Investment Attraction Director, the RELS will serve as the back-up lead contact for site selectors, consultants and commercial real estate professionals seeking information about Wisconsin, and he/she is a key member of a project team, participates in program and project development, disseminates project information and is an active participant in project-related work groups and committees.

Responsibilities

• Acting as the secondary point person for inquiries relative to business attraction opportunities.
• Acting as the secondary project manager on business attraction efforts.
  • Creating business attraction proposals.
  • Providing design support for WEDC presentations.
• Leveraging and utilizing available research tools (internal and external) to provide information for corporate location decision-making, including: market research, competitive intelligence, workforce information, industry growth forecasts (domestic and foreign), business operations costs and other customized research as requested
• Deliver professional, quality reports that accurately and effectively convey information and data
• Provide quality and timely responses to stakeholder requests for research, data, or research tool technical assistance (e.g. LocateInWisconsin)
• Prepare and/or deliver periodic reports or presentations for internal and external audiences
• Identify and stay up to date on competitive advantages of business climate compared to other states and countries
• Work in collaboration with staff leads in other WEDC divisions to identify business & investment attraction opportunities based on specific industry trends and business strategies
• Design and/or refine WEDC programs to provide more impactful and effective service to meet partner, stakeholder or prospect needs, and support those programs through deployment, training and promotion
• In collaboration with WEDC researchers, identify opportunities for tool improvements and assist in finding potential new application areas
• Review and negotiate contracts for the procurement of data tools for analysis
• Serve as a point of contact for commercial property listings and community demographics provided for in LocateInWisconsin
• Other duties as assigned

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Economic Development, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Information Systems, Economic Geography, Geography, Cartography, Sociology, Community Development, Urban or Regional Planning, Real Estate, Urban Design, Economics, Business Administration, Public Policy or related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of two years of experience in economic development, community development, economics, commercial real estate, urban or regional planning, or related field.

Skills and Talents

• Understanding of economic development theory and practices
• Well-versed in economic tools needed to analyze labor market information and other types of data (e.g. Shift Share Analysis, Location Quotients, and Regression Analysis)
• Strong quantitative, qualitative, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong presentation skills
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects
• Proficiency in navigating public resources to attain labor market and business intelligence information.
• Familiarity with CRM and research products such as, fDi Intelligence, InfoGroup, EMSI, ESRI, etc.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Highly structured, organized and attentive to detail
• Confidence in operating within a client-facing environment
• Strong research, writing, and communication skills required
• Ability to develop collaborate cross-divisional relationships
• Ability to build strong working relationship with external partners and stakeholders
• Possess a high level of knowledge of state and federal laws/regulations, rules, policies and procedures
• Knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) utilized to create unique data layers and map strategic information preferred
• Proficiency in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 preferred
• Proficient in common PC applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other common Windows software applications