There’s a very basic challenge in performing an online search for commercial real estate that is unique to commercial real estate: neighborhoods and zip codes.

The industry has submarkets. Consumers (or occupants) know neighborhoods. Consumers and the industry don’t think in terms of zip codes. Downtown San Francisco (I use this example because we rent there) is the Financial District, the North Financial District, the South Financial District, North of Market, Embarcadero, etc. Getting all of this to match up and provide for a meaningful search, no matter what you call it, is no easy data task. On top of that most consumers (myself included) have little patience in refining/redoing their searches before they bounce. The polygon search thing is a cool feature but how big should my polygon be? I don’t want to miss something just outside my border.

We have a new solution and will be rolling it out to our site in the coming weeks. For now, it’s available here to preview. Its still in Beta so go easy on us. This is currently set up to search buildings (not active listings, comps, tenant requirements, announcements, active tours/brokers). The thing to try is the map and the search box. Type in an address, cross street, neighborhood. Or just click on the map.

Look forward to your feedback.