Forest Park economic development staff outline marketing, property-mapping and tech plans

Economic development staff gave a broad update on initiatives intended to promote development and streamline operations in Forest Park, including technology for meetings, property mapping, commercial-listing platforms and marketing proposals.

On meeting technology, staff said the DDA will pilot preloaded tablets (example: Fire tablets) for members to access meeting documents live, with training from IT and a planned rollout in April once devices are sourced locally. "This would be accessed via a tablet, like a fire tablet… we will do a full rollout of this process in April," the director said.

Marketing proposals under consideration included a Multiview targeted digital-ad program (staff estimated $20,000–$30,000 per year) and a proposal to buy an advertisement in Site Selection magazine (staff recommended budgeting for the January issue to reach site selectors and workforce-development audiences). Staff said they will invite vendors back for formal presentations and will return with data on expected outcomes and tracking metrics.

Staff also described a project to digitize about 30 board-owned properties into an interactive map and confirmed that DDA properties are now listed on CoStar/LoopNet to increase commercial visibility. Staff said the intent is to publish a mobile-responsive project inventory on the city website and to synthesize project updates into social-media-friendly graphics to reduce information overload and increase public visibility.

Finance provided an operating-cash snapshot with a beginning balance reported as $5,872,005.64 and an ending balance of about $5,000,873.08; board members requested a projected versus actual cash-flow report showing expected deposits and withdrawals between meetings so the board can better oversee spending and earmarked items.

Staff also highlighted neighborhood promotions and events (Taste of Forest Park on April 3, wine crawl April 24, Cherry Street unveiling on April 17) as part of the downtown activation strategy.

Next steps: staff will schedule vendor demos, refine KPIs and data tracking for marketing programs, finalize the tablet pilot and return with budget recommendations in the coming weeks.