Pocono economic development group turns to new 'app'

By HOWARD FRANK
Pocono Record Writer
February 19, 2011

Local real estate agents now have a new way to access the area's commercial property database on their smart phones.

The Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation launched a smart phone-ready app of its websites and available commercial sites.

"After a challenging 2010, it feels terrific to hit the ground running in 2011 with a major initiative to give site selectors improved tools for researching our properties," said Executive Director Chuck Leonard.

The smart phone app, touted as the first of its kind in the region, combines and reconfigures two sites: PMEDC.com and the former PASites.com, the Pocono Mountains commercial and office property database.

The new combined mobile site gives users instant access to comprehensive information about commercial, industrial and office properties available in the Pocono Mountains region, as well as regional information and data that complies with International Economic Development Council standards, according to corporation Marketing Director Michelle Bisbing.

The economic development board's chairman, Michael Baxter, believes that the new app will have an immediate impact on how PMEDC interacts with the site selection community.

"Nearly every broker and agent that I see or meet with carries a smart phone," Baxter said. "It's convenient to be able to access the Web on those phones, but looking at a standard website can be a bit challenging. The mobile PMEDC.com app makes it very easy to navigate and search the property database."

Baxter said that with the new app there's no delay when an agent is traveling through the area looking up properties.

"They can drive by a property, pull over, look it up on their smart phone and start the process of qualifying that property for the clients."

Smart phone users can simply visit the PMEDC.com with their mobile device. The site will auto detect the device and deliver the appropriate content.