August 25, 2021
Finding the best location for a business in Graves County is now much easier to do, thanks to Graves County Economic Development's new mapping tool.
The user-friendly interactive tool combines location, demographic, business and economic data to serve as a primary resource for business recruitment, expansion and retention. It is powered by GIS Planning's industry-leading Zoom Prospector software.
"The ability to showcase our sites and buildings is crucial for new and existing businesses to select the right location in our community," Jason Lemle, president of Graves County Economic Development, said. "Paired with the detailed community data, this tool can be utilized to create a summary of benefits for why companies should locate to Graves County."
This new web resource is not just a searchable properties database but is also an intuitive, robust location analysis tool. Graves County Economic Development, along with local communities, businesses, listing agents and other community stakeholders, can take advantage of this user-friendly building and sites database to promote available properties in the region while also featuring key data on variables such as consumer spending, labor force and demographics.
The Graves County web tool couples these listings and layers with additional proprietary data sources like Applied Geographic Solution (AGS), Emsi, and DataAxle (formerly InfoGroup USA). Some key unique features include demographic analysis, where visitors can research labor force, population, educational levels and employee types by distance or radius from a selected property and export the information in ready-to-go reports. Business reports allow users to identify industry clusters and potential customers, competitors, and suppliers. Community profiles provide jurisdiction-specific data on transportation resources, consumer spending, and quality-of-life amenities like housing costs.
Wendy Puckett, vice president of Graves County Economic Development, said, "Having the ability to share this tool with the local brokerage and real estate community is a game-changer for Graves County. Not only does this tool give our organization the ability to showcase our sites and buildings, but it also gives our local agents the ability to promote their properties and reach a much larger audience."
"This new resource, when combined with the expertise and direct knowledge our members have about their communities," she added, "will allow businesses in all sectors to make informed decisions on site selection in this growing region of opportunity."
Graves County Economic Development was founded in 1981 to support new and existing businesses. The organization's primary focus is to generate new tax revenue, improve the quality of life and diversify the businesses in the community.
To learn more about business expansion or relocation opportunities in Graves County, please contact Lemle at 270-247-0626 or jason@gravescountyed.com, or visit GravesCountyEd.com.
West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation donated $15,000 to Graves County Economic Development to support its mission of retaining and attracting quality manufacturing, distribution, and service industries through strategic marketing and recruitment efforts.
