I'm not questioning what they "do" or "don't do" Just questioning the In-house thing.

IMO, It would be more efficient to hire outside "marketing" firms to do this type of work. A real estate agency can advertise spaces more efficiently and reach a larger market than an "In-house" organization.

Can't the other "organizations" (Chamber, Go Downtown ect.) do pretty much the same thing as the EDC?

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...hire outside "marketing" firms to do this type of work.

“Outside” of what? To the village government, the EDC is an outside firm. In any case, it is in a very specialized business... each municipality has but one EDC. I'm not aware of any independent free-lance for-hire EDC organizations.

Even so, our (one-person) EDC does bring in outside graphic, polling, public relations, etc. professionals as needed. The nature of municipal EDC-ing is rather unique, and requires skills, knowledge, experience and connections that are quite different from a generic marketing or advertising agency.

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Can't the other "organizations" (Chamber ... do pretty much the same thing as the EDC?

No. The Chamber represents only its members, and not the entire CBD, Roosevelt Road and Five Corners business communities.

The EDC works on behalf of all businesses, and does so by offering services not offered by other local organizations. It's worth noting, however, that the EDC was created by the Chamber and the village government, and each appoints half of the members of the EDC's board. (Again, as detailed in the EDC website.)

As I mentioned earlier, the village government — and the Chamber — have assigned to the EDC responsibilities that the village government and the Chamber can not, or will not do. (The ED shares space with the Chamber, and the work together and share resources.)

Neither the Chamber nor the village government has an advertising or marketing budget. The EDC does, but we see little of its promotional efforts because most of the shopper attraction dollars are spent elsewhere in the region, and most of the business attraction dollars are spent with specialized trade publication, conventions ad targeted mailings.

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A real estate agency can advertise spaces more efficiently...

Which is why the EDC does not attempt to duplicate their efforts or compete with them. When the EDC gets a business to the point where it will consider coming to town, the EDC puts them in touch with the realtors who have appropriate space. (The EDC proactively seeks out businesses from elsewhere and works to interest them in coming to Glen Ellyn; Realtors rarely pursue selected tenants so proactively.)

Most important, there's lots of targeted ono-on-one schmmozing residents never sees. In any case, the Glen Ellyn EDC doesn't work to get Glen Ellyn residents to come to town; it works to bring shoppers and businesses from elsewhere to come to town. In spite of the negative comments posted here on the GEBB.

Is there any news on filling some of the vacancies? Last time we touched this subject I believe you mentioned something to the effect that you couldn't make property owners "listen" or something to that effect. I'm sure some of property owners would prefer to collect something as opposed to nothing.

Plenty of places have been sitting pretty empty for a long long time. I understand the economy is hoping and changing, but there are people out there with ideas, and a bit of capital, people still go out, they need to eat, work, ect. Is there anything in the works for some of these vacancies? (stuff you can post about?)

The EDC rarely, if ever, markets specific properties. In general, landlords aren't very selective and will simply rent to the first tenant who comes along with a checkbook. Understandably, landowners have little motivation to wait for what we, the residents, would think is the ”right kind“ of tenant.

Instead, the EDC pursues particular types of businesses — as guided by the Village, resident surveys and so on. If and when a prospective business gets interested enough to actually want to see some Glen Ellyn properties, then and then only will the EDC introduce the prospect to realtors and/or owners who have appropriate properties to offer.

(Altough an up-to-date list of available properties for sale or lease, with contact info, is always available from the EDC.)

Oops... sorry. You asked one more question:

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anything in the works for some of these vacancies? (stuff you can post about?)

If so, you won't hear it from the EDC. Incoming businesses generally prefer to make their own announcements in their own way and in their own time. It's rare that even a landlord will trump a new tenant's announcement.

In any case, no prospective business wants to see its name in print as ”moving into the XYZ space“ until all the T's are crossed and I's dotted. It can be very embarrassing to be seen as backing out of a deal, no matter what the reason — especially for a “name brand” business.

The EDC Director rarely shares specifics of works-in-progress with even the EDC board. This is a small town, and secrets are hard to keep.

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Originally posted by Ted E.:
landlords aren't very selective and will simply rent to the first tenant who comes along with a checkbook.

I believe you have been misinformed in regards to this. I have said "NO" more times than yes. I for one don't want certain types of businesses in my buildings, I certainly don't want to put any effort into something I believe will fail in the first year. I also try to diversify the types of businesses so that they are not in competition with one another and if an industry goes "soft" I won't have multiple vacancies.

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Originally posted by Ted E.:
If and when a prospective business gets interested enough to actually want to see some Glen Ellyn properties, then and then only will the EDC introduce the prospect to realtors and/or owners who have appropriate properties to offer.

The EDC once was going to "introduce" a prospective tenant to me, however they were insisting I sign some sort of "Brokerage" agreement prior to even telling me what type of business was interested.

Unfortunately (for the broker) I had no interest in signing this agreement and certainly wasn't going to pay the excessive commissions associated with it.

After explaining my "position" to the EDC along with my guidelines, they finally revealed the type of business that was interested. Funny thing was, by the time this business was revealed to me, I already had a signed lease and had a check in my hand from a competing company(i.e. The exact same type of business).

What makes this even more amusing is that the Village would not allow this company I recruited to open citing zoning, yet the EDC proposed business was acceptable. (Did I mention that the two companies are in the exact same industry providing the exact same product and are direct competitors with each other.)

To make a long story short, my recruit opened up in Naperville even though my space was their first choice.

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opened up in Naperville

And they are most likely thriving in Naperville. You should be happy for them, not angry.

Oh, I'm not angry with them. Glad they are doing so well. In fact they are really nice to me when I go to their store.

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I believe you have been misinformed..

Point taken. I should have said “some” landlords (or “many” or even ”most”).

You live, work and rent properties in Glen Ellyn. Unfortunately, some (many”? Most“?) landlords are out-of-towners (or even out of stateers) who don't share your sense of responsibility.