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New Rochelle approves Live XYZ contract to map storefronts and commercial vacancies
Summary
The Corporation for Local Development voted unanimously to authorize a contract with Live XYZ for quarterly ground-verified maps and a citywide commercial directory intended to support retail recruitment, vacancy tracking and data-driven economic development.
The New Rochelle Corporation for Local Development on May 7 authorized a contract with Live XYZ to create a ground-verified, citywide map and directory of public-facing commercial spaces, including storefronts and above-ground-floor places.
City economic development officials said the Live XYZ platform will provide quarterly, photographed, on-the-ground verifications of businesses and vacancies and will produce a space-level ID system the city can use to monitor occupancy, guide tenant recruitment and measure the effects of retail initiatives.
The contract was presented as part of the department's Vanguard/New Rochelle retail strategy. Deputy Commissioner Jorge Ventura said the tool will help the city “monitor the impact of our investments” and support tenant recruitment in targeted corridors. Chris Bratasich, director of partnerships and growth for Live XYZ, described the product as a city-level “digital twin” that his team maintains through quarterly ground surveys and proprietary mobile apps.
Live XYZ’s presentation emphasized three capabilities the city will receive: a searchable data directory (a cloud-based spreadsheet of places), a reporting suite for trends and dashboards, and interactive maps that can be embedded on partner websites. Bratasich said Live XYZ already supports multiple agencies in New York City and that the company’s team conducts regular ground verification, including photographs and classification of each space’s use and contact information.
City staff stressed interoperability with existing systems: Bratasich said Live XYZ can integrate with ArcGIS Online and with parcel/tax-map systems to allow the city to link storefront occupancy to parcel-level records. The platform also supports export to CSV and API access so planners, brokers and business-improvement districts can download tailored lists (for example, all vacant retail spaces in a given corridor).
Board members asked detailed operational questions about scope, data quality and boundaries. Bratasich said Live XYZ will cover all “public-facing corridors” across New Rochelle and will include above-ground-floor places when they have street-visible signage or frontage. He emphasized the company’s ground-evidence standard: staff and partners may submit feedback, but Live XYZ requires photograph-based confirmation before changing a space’s status in the database.
Several board members and city staff asked how vacancy duration would be handled. Bratasich and Ventura said Live XYZ will track occupancy over time and that the city can cross-check the new data with building-permit records, MLS or other municipal data to estimate vacancy tenure and flag chronic vacancies.
The board voted to approve the contract. The motion passed unanimously.
The city and Live XYZ plan outreach to the commercial-broker community and economic development partners to introduce the tool; staff also said they expect quarterly index reports on occupancy and vacancy trends that will inform recruitment and capital-allocation decisions.
