6 Key Takeaways: Turning Land and Utility Data into Deal Flow

Industrial users, manufacturers, and data centers are all racing to secure limited electrical capacity, and brokers who can pinpoint powered land have a distinct edge. In our recent webinar with SIOR, “Grid Intelligence: Turning Land and Utility Data into Deal Flow,” Acres’ Rush Evans discussed how Acres.com simplifies the process of finding and valuing power-ready land. 

From filtering grid infrastructure to generating branded reports, this session revealed how land data can streamline sourcing, enhance client presentations, and unlock off-market opportunities. 

About the speaker: Rush Evans is an account executive at Acres.com with experience in real estate, drone surveying, LiDAR mapping, and GIS. Today, he helps real estate teams leverage land and parcel data for fast land analysis, valuation, and lead sourcing.

1. Competition for Limited Electrical Supply (3:00)

“Powered land is what people want right now. It’s in short supply. Specifically industrial users or manufacturers and even data centers are competing for limited electrical supply.” 

“That makes powered land the deciding factor for deals that are taking place all across the U.S.”

Powered land has become the key variable in closing industrial and data center deals. Because powered land is often the deciding factor in today’s deals, brokers who can quickly identify these sites gain a major advantage. It’s no longer just about price per acre. Instead, it’s about power-ready locations.

2. How Sourcing Off-Market Deals Gives you a Distinct Edge (4:10)

“Those who can source these off-market deals that are powered land have a distinct edge…A lot of these new sites that have gone for sale and closed at the transaction level are going for millions of dollars.” 

“If an individual is connected with the right people in the right tracts of land in areas that are ready and suitable for development, that can give them a competitive edge.”

Sourcing off-market, power-ready land gives brokers a competitive edge few can match. These early insights often unlock deals worth millions before the rest of the market catches on.

3. Challenges With Sourcing Off-Market Deals (4:40)

“Sourcing those deals off-market still highly involves word of mouth relations, paper maps from engineers, or even outdated government websites. Each county may have their own GIS system, but if you’re sourcing and working through all these deals on a national scale, that can be difficult to navigate with everyone’s different GIS platforms and different sources.”

The biggest barrier to sourcing off-market deals at scale? Disjointed data. With each county using different GIS platforms, brokers face a patchwork of tools that slow down site discovery.

4. Using Acres.com for a Differentiated Sourcing Strategy (5:39)

“We’ve spoken with commercial real estate teams that are using Acres to do their complete land intelligence and they’re using the platform to find all that information in one place. Where are substations? Where are transmission lines? What’s the slope and elevation of a property? Is it sitting in a wetland? Do I have power access?”

“It’s really providing them the option to have a differentiated strategy for sourcing these deals.”

Acres empowers brokers with complete land intelligence, bringing utilities, terrain, environmental data, and more into one platform. It’s a fast, competitive way to source power-ready land.

5. Use Case: Rapidly Screen for Power-Readiness (6:30)

“In Acres, you can turn on our national transmission and substation layers, but the real advantage is how fast you can filter that data. You can set the parameters for minimum voltage…max voltage, and active substations. That means instead of sorting through every piece of grid infrastructure, you can quickly zoom into sites, learn what’s meaningful and what’s the live power capacity to that nearby substation and power line.” 

“It’s a simple but powerful way to cut through the noise and focus on locations that are truly development ready.”

Instead of sifting through endless grid data, you can zero in on viable sites with just a few clicks. Acres’ filters help cut through the noise.

6. Turning Your Data into Pitch-Ready Reports (13:04)

“Whether it’s through an aerial map or a PDF report with comparable sales, you can narrow down your list with a few promising sites. When you’re ready to report on those sites, you can use our automated property analysis reports. So you can generate branded property reports or aerial maps directly from the acres.com platform, including the same infrastructure layers that you’ve used in your search, like utility lines, power access, and so on.”

“These are perfect for validating your recommendations to clients or showing partners why a particular site stands out”

Acres makes it easy to turn site research into compelling client presentations. Branded reports and maps showcase infrastructure data and validate site choices with ease.

With the demand for power-ready land on the rise, brokers who can quickly source and present viable sites have a distinct edge in the market. Acres makes it fast and strategic—consolidating utility data, terrain insights, instant reports, and more into one powerful platform.

Ready to see how Acres can power your sourcing strategy? Book a demo today.