CIE: Real Time, Real Results
REALTOR® Commercial property Database,
a Regional Asset

2008 Annual Report

Peter newton, 2008 CIE Chairman, hilliker corporation

Two Thousand and Eight has been a year of change in more ways than one. I have been lucky to preside over the CIE during a transition that was meticulously planned by the Chairman and Directors that came before me, and professionally and flawlessly executed by the CIE staff. Any success I’ve had is because of the vast amount of time invested and the Herculean effort of others.

We have taken our platform to the next level, and set ourselves up to grow our database from the list serve we had into the fully researched system that it is going to be. The data in the system is accurate, and it will continue to become more and more complete. Over 2009 it will grow to the point where every commercial property is in it, and the new commercial property that gets added is just that, new construction. To see the growth for 2008, click here.

I went into this year worried about the transition, worried about how the new system would be received, worried about the time all this would take, and worried that we would have plenty of unforeseen problems. None of my fears came to pass, and when unforeseen problems did arise, they were dealt with so expediently and professionally that more times than not I was informed of them after they had already been resolved. That is the kind of team every leader dreams about, and few get.

We really do have a great group of Brokers on the board. We have a perfect mix of venerated experience, and vernal creativity. They represent a who’s who of our industry in the St. Louis MTA, they are dedicated to our profession, and they are thoughtful and forward thinking enough to keep us on the leading edge of the “state-of-the-art” part of our mission statement. We are lucky to have them, and I thank them all.

I want to say a special thank you to the retiring board members. To Ed Schuttenberg, who has been our technical issues go-to-guy for as long as I can remember. He explained how things work (as if I were a child, which I needed). To Gerry Prinster, whose leadership made the transition to this new system possible. To Jay Steinberg whose sober council is always valued. To outgoing SLAR President John Williams, who took the time to understand what we’re doing, and who supported our mission like it was his own, a true ally. And, of course, out going Commercial Division President Sheldon Johnson, who managed to make the CIE and the Commercial Division work as one by fostering clear communications and taking the time to ensure we were all on the same page.

Not a one of these farewell letters have come to pass that did not gush about the staff. Anyone who has ever served on a board or committee knows that it doesn’t “do” anything. It plans, it discusses, and occasionally it votes, but in order for any of that to matter its decisions must be carried out. That’s where the rubber meets the road. The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can count on them delivering. We place heavy demands on, and can depend on Bonnie Devine and Judith Jakuboski to deliver, without question. We are lucky to have them, and I thank them.

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between they are a servant.” I hope this year I have served you well, and as I hand the baton to Kelly Sullivan, I hope she experiences the smooth sailing, even in the midst of transition, that I have had.

Thank you.

Peter Newton
2008 Chairman
Hilliker Corporation

2008 CIE Directors

Peter Newton, Chairman, Hilliker Corporation
Kelly Sullivan, Vice Chairman, NAI DESCO
Gerry Prinster, Immediate Past Chairman, Delta Group Real Estate, L.C.
Bonnie J. Devine, President, CIE
Carl Conceller, Coldwell Banker Commercial CRA
Darin Girdler, Terra Properties, Inc.
Joseph Hill, Block Hawley Commercial Real Estate
Sheldon Johnson, Johnson Group, Inc., President, Commercial Division SLAR
Fred Kratky, St. Louis Association of REALTORS®
Peter Pfeifer, Hilliker Corporation
Lynn Schenck, Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage, President Elect, Comm. Division SLAR
Ed Schuttenberg, CB Richard Ellis
Jay Steinberg, Commercial Brokerage Group, Inc.
John Williams, M.O.R.E., President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS®

Thank You to Our Member Companies
Our Members Are the Power Behind Our System

Click here to view our 2008 member roster (as of November 4, 2008).

CIE – What’s it all about?

CIE is a regional, real-time online database of commercial properties. The system is owned by the St. Louis Association of REALTORS® and is powered by local real estate professionals. CIE is dedicated to bringing the most up-to-date technology to assist professionals engaging in the commercial property transaction process. Our extensive network of members includes over 250 participating firms with more than 700 commercial REALTOR® members.

CIE began in 1999 as a means to connect the commercial brokerage community and maximize the free exchange of information electronically to better serve our clients. Since that time, CIE has evolved and changed to keep up with the demands of our market, and with each change CIE has gone to great lengths to offer services to members for as low a price as possible, often operating at break even or a loss.

CIE 2009 Outlook

CIE is moving to a higher level as 2009 brings a new approach to data collection!

Over the next year, CIE will work towards offering members a database that is fully researched. With this change, there will be a complete and updated picture of the entire market maintained not only by the information input by members, but augmented by a staff of researchers to ensure that the most current and accurate listing information is immediately available to every member.

Our intent is to combine the best aspects of a researched system with the real-time nature of the CIE of the past and create a hybrid system that will become the only one necessary to conduct your business and save as much of your valuable time as possible for what matters, your clients.

In 2008 we began scrubbing the data and talking to the Brokers about their properties. Brokers responded positively and stepped up to the plate to help us. No one knows these properties better than our Broker members, and using our members as an information resource saves us a great deal of time and money.

After the initial scrubbing of the data, CIE staff will continue to contact each broker once every month to make sure there have been no changes on the listing information and to gather new listing information. Staff completes this process as quickly and efficiently as possible to make this as painless as we can for our members.

Our mission is to provide a system that gives the information needed to grow your bottom line. It must be accurate, updated, and complete. We must have information we can trust. The fully researched database will not be completed overnight, but working together we can knock out a huge portion of our market before we ever send researchers into the field.

The CIE system is ours. The information in it is ours. It is a powerful tool when the data is complete and accurate. We thank you for your help and assistance, with it, there is no doubt that this system will be a resource we can all rely on.

Past Chairmen

Peter Newton (2008)
Gerry Prinster (2007)
Richard H. Guth (2006)
Eric S. Friedman (2005)
Edgar J. Schuttenberg (2004)
James J. Finn (2003)
Peter B. Krombach (2002)
James J. Finn (2001)
Tom Stern (2000)
Steve Tharpe (1999)

Our Commitment to Our Members

We hope that you expect a lot from your CIE membership and the people who bring it to you. You should. Providing a quality service is our number one priortiy.

We are committed to bringing you the latest in what technology has to offer, and to do so at the lowest price possible. We strive every day to meet this priority while following our mission statement:

"To maintain a state-of-the-art database, reflecting current commercial market listings and information."

Commercial Information Exchange

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