Article in the St. Louis Commerce Magazine - February 2004 - about Eric Friedman named
Realtor of the Year by the Commercial Board of the St. Louis Association of Realtors.

Article in St. Louis Business Journal about March of Dimes Building the Community Awards

Article in St. Louis Business Journal - Hats off - about Eric Friedman's unique way
to lobby legislators about the Missouri Historic Tax Credit Program.

Article in St. Louis Post Dispatch about Landmarks Awards for the
Renovation of the Manufacturer's BankBuilding for Lift for Life Academy

2006 CIE Annual Report


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Above: Co-chairs of the Commercial 
Information Exchange Committee 
Edgar Schuttenberg, vice president and 
director of research and information services, 
Grubb & Ellis/Krombach Partners (left), 
and Eric Friedman, president, Friedman Group.


 
Reliable Real Estate Listings

The Commercial Information Exchange
provides one-stop, current commercial real
estate data for brokers and their clients.

The Commercial Information Exchange, CIE, an exciting
new venture for brokers and their clients, is bringing 
St. Louis and its commercial real estate markets into the
forefront of technology and competition.

Information that is up-to-date, complete, precise and easily
accessible is necessary to compete today. In commercial
real estate markets that means a real-time connection to a
detailed list of available properties, recent sale and rental
data, and references to knowledgeable sources.

The CIE system complements the RCGA’s system, which
offers a computerized inventory of property, including
commercial and industrial buildings, greenspace, and office
space. This database, which has been in use since 1995,
is compiled from information provided by the Greater 
St.Louis Economic Development Network and area Realtors.

With the new CIE system, information on retail, industrial,
office, and multi-family buildings and land for use and
investment is available on the Commercial Information
Exchange (CIE). CIE, a service of the Commercial Division
of the St. Louis Association of Realtors, provides one-stop,
current commercial real estate data for brokers, appraisers,
economic development agencies and other government
officials. More than 300 brokers and their firms now use the
existing dial-up system to list properties that are available
and to search for properties that meet client needs.

Next month, CIE will be on the Internet, with a public web
site for people interested in St. Louis commercial real
estate and a private, more detailed web site for subscriber
members. Ultimately, CIE replaces a paper system that
involves mass mailings of listing sheets that often found
their way into difficult-to-use file cabinets or cardboard boxes.

Ronnie Bryant, senior vice president, Economic
Development Division of the RCGA says, “The CIE is the
only system of its kind in the country. Integration of the
RCGA and the CIE systems will help make our region more
competitive and better able to respond to requests from
businesses while serving the needs of the Realtors and
their clients.”

Co-chairs of the CIE Committee, Eric Friedman, president,
Friedman Group, and Edgar Schuttenberg, vice president
and director of research and information services, Grubb &
Ellis/Krombach Partners, received the Commercial
Realtors Award of Merit in 1998 for work on the CIE
system. “Even though it took lots of hours of meetings,
talking to people and collecting of data, “Schuttenberg says,
“the advantage of CIE will be its immediacy of
information—CIE tells clients and brokers what is
happening now.”

According to Kathie Sammons, director of information
services, Follman Properties, brokers both search for
properties and use the messaging component of the
system often. A broker can post information on CIE and that
information is broadcast by e-mail immediately to 300
subscribers. “CIE definitely fills a need,” Sammon says. “It
makes it easy to get a list of available properties and make
follow-up phone calls.” R. A. Harrington, senior vice
president, Corporate Advisory Group, CB Richard Ellis,
concurs. “The CIE Information System allows us to provide
clients with the best available property information possible.”

CIE subscribers must be members of the Commercial
Division of the St. Louis Realtors Association. Unlike
for-profit public information systems operating elsewhere in
the United States where the data can be sold to anyone, the
Realtors control the information, assuring more privacy and
accuracy for their clients.

While most subscribers are brokers, REITS or large
investors, the Commercial Division is working to provide a
mechanism for everyone who wants to be involved.
Friedman is excited about the second-generation system
available in March and, with Internet access, expects more
people to join. “CIE is the ultimate one point of entry system
and way to get information on what is available in the
marketplace and to provide clients with the best
communication tool. We have brought all the elements
together,” Friedman says, “in an easy-to-use,
point-and-click format with Internet access.”

In the updated system, brokers will enter data one time and
can chose to send the information directly to the RCGA
database, Missouri and Illinois economic development
databases and any Internet site.  Property photos, floor
plans and plot maps can be downloaded into e-mail,
presentations and other documents.

An intranet and an extranet are also being developed to
further support Realtors and their clients. In addition to
immediate property listing and client search requirements,
the intranet will provide Realtor news, discussions groups
and digital contracts. The extranet will allow transactional
information and files to be shared with all parties
involved—clients, attorneys, accountants, lenders, title
companies, surveyors and other team members.

The system is a partnership of CIE, Mid America Regional
Information Systems and Rapattoni Corporation. With CIE,
commercial real estate markets and economic
development agencies in the St. Louis region are well
connected to the growing world of e-commerce. It was
designed to assist brokers to complete transactions
smoothly, thereby providing superior service to clients. CIE
also helps everyone work better by making St. Louis and its
real estate markets more competitive.


                            This article has been posted with the express permission of St. Louis Commerce Magazine and RCGA.
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