SitesAcrossAmerica shines national spotlight on rural electric communities

Although many of Tri-State’s family of 44 member systems have seen their share of significant electric load and population growth during the past several years, there are still plenty of co-op-served communities that would benefit from a few new businesses or industries relocating to their towns.  And as any real estate developer or economic development professional will tell you, that’s not always an easy sell when your particular region of the state happens to be 40 miles from the nearest interstate highway or isn’t on the radar as a tourist destination.

Enter SitesAcrossAmerica.com, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) one-stop inventory for thousands of potential land development sites and available buildings in rural communities nationwide.  “Until 2004, when we first launched this site, electric co-ops utilized mostly local resources to promote economic development opportunities in their service areas,” explained Kristine Jackson-DeJarnette, NRECA’s business development specialist and Webmaster of the site.

“SitesAcrossAmerica offers electric cooperatives an opportunity to join forces and compile all their real estate data on one easy to navigate Web site,” she explained.

Businesses interested in relocation, real estate developers and economic development professionals who go to SitesAcrossAmerica can expect to find:

• Available site and building information
• Cooperative contacts for site development
• Real estate information
• Community demographics and links

Cooperatives’ member services, key account staff and economic development professionals can assist interested parties using the site with first-hand knowledge of their region and assist in their area’s economic growth by:

• Securing loans for business and infrastructure in their service areas
• Helping companies locate in co-op service territories
• Offering decades of experience in siting and servicing businesses of all sizes, from national retail chains to large industrial companies and small manufacturers

Jennifer Tanner, a vice president of Tennessee-based Janus Economics, said that SitesAcrossAmerica was an invaluable tool in her business.  “This free site offers comprehensive listings of properties and buildings and provides user-friendly tools to conduct searches by ZIP code, area code, city, state, acreage, price and demographics.”

Jerry Bingold, NRECA’s principal for commercial and industrial business development, noted that they were pleased with the evolution of the SitesAcrossAmerica Web site.  “To date we have about 350 co-ops that have listed properties with us,” he said.  “We know that most co-ops have something to offer and this site will increase their exposure in the marketplace.”

One Tri-State co-op actively participating in the SitesAcrossAmerica Web site is Wheatland REA, based in Wheatland, Wyo.  “I’m a strong believer in a strategy for well-planned community growth,” said Al Teel, Wheatland REA’s director of marketing and member services.  “Attracting businesses to Wheatland is challenging since we are primarily an agricultural community without the benefit of energy growth that you are seeing in places like Gillette,” he explained.

For more information on the SitesAcrossAmerica Web site, contact Kristine Jackson-DeJarnette by calling 703-907-5633 or e-mail sitesacrossamerica@nreca.coop.

Updated: March 11, 2008