The Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce’s website now provides a listing of available commercial properties, fulfilling a longtime goal of city and chamber officials.
The page, accessed by clicking the “Resources” tab on the chamber’s website, includes a photo, address and square-footage of each property and a map of Laguna detailing each parcel’s location. The webpage launched Dec. 15, and as of Monday listed 41 properties.
Laguna Beach resident Bridgette Hertel, a senior associate specializing in real estate transactions with Stream Realty Partners, volunteered to take photos and compile the list. Hertel’s offering to do the work unpaid was a “deciding factor” in the chamber’s board of directors’ decision to select her for the task, chamber Executive Laura Henkels said.
Henkels said the chamber’s board wanted to be able to post a list that advertised available properties without having to pay a subscription fee to a company such as LoopNet, a commercial real estate website.
Since Hertel keeps a pulse on the real estate landscape in Laguna already — fielding calls from sellers and potential buyers — she said she didn’t mind compiling and organizing the list.
“If [sellers and buyers] need help and I can help them, great,” Hertel said. “It’s what I do for clients all the time, why not help the chamber do that?”
The city and chamber have sought such an inventory for the last five years. The board considered four proposals for such a list of properties in the last two years, Henkels said.
“We have a lot of people calling up asking if there are any [vacant] stores we could recommend,” Henkels told the Coastline Pilot in April.
Often, the only way chamber officials knew if a property was available was if they saw a “For Sale” sign in the window.
Hertel communicated with local agents and landowners to compile the list, took photos of each site and uploaded the information to the website with help from Stream’s marketing tools.
Henkels added that 90% of the properties on the chamber’s website are not Stream listings. Stream is headquartered in Dallas and has an Irvine office.
Potential buyers can contact Hertel directly and she will put them in touch with the agent or broker. Hertel said she received two inquiries in the list’s first week online, and will update the website twice each month.
By: Bryce Alderton Contact Reporter
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times