Local economic development officials and real estate brokers are trying to launch a new and improved electronic listing service for commercial properties akin to what exists for houses, but they’re still facing resistance from some firms that refuse to join and share data.

The planned commercial “multiple listing service” is similar to what has long existed for residential properties, enabling participating real estate agents—most, if not all in the area — to list and search homes that are available for sale for clients.

That would mean anyone signing into the MLS database can see and search all the office, retail, industrial and other commercial properties for sale or lease, and learn critical details about them before arranging a visit with the listing agent.

And it would include not only properties marketed by brokers for clients, but also new parcels being offered by developers. The Webbased system will also be available to the public.

In addition, unlike a two-year-old model that is losing appeal, the new system would enable companies or brokers to examine the demographic characteristics of the community and population around a property.

They also could see how long it would take and how much it would cost to bring in supplies or send out products, and even calculate potential tax incentives and other government benefits based on the location.

“We’re excited. It’s going to be just bigger and better,” said Patricia L. Collins, co-owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Meridian and president of the Western New York chapter of the New York State Commercial Association of Realtors. “If we were to get this, it would be one of the premier systems in the country and would bring us to the forefront for site selectors.”

And that would prove highly useful not only for brokers and companies here, but also for efforts to attract and assist out-of-town companies to set up shop here. Other large metropolitan areas already have such services, though success varies.

“For the part of the marketplace that we’re going after, this is what they’re looking for,” said Thomas Kucharski, president of the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise. “It’s something we know we need, and we think it helps us do our business better.”

“This is the 21st century and the information age. People want it now,” said Gunner Tronolone, commercial real estate broker associate at Amherst- based MJ Peterson Corp. “The information must be readily available.”

Officials are planning to launch the new system in early February and are counting on its advanced features to draw in more users to include their own listings. The ultimate goal is full participation by area brokers.

“It will have to be a comprehensive source of available commercial properties in Western New York. It becomes a terrific tool to use if all or most of the commercial realtors participate,” said Leonard Koch, associate broker at Hastings Cohn Real Estate in Buffalo.

But that’s where a big problem lies. While many of the smaller brokerage firms are backing the project, a few of the largest are not eager to participate, in part because it might mean sharing proprietary information.

These brokers are affiliated with large national or international firms that have invested significant amounts of money in their own databases and research to serve clients.

They say they already share information with other firms and use national Web services like LoopNet to list properties. And that makes the new service “technologically unnecessary” and not particularly valuable to them, one broker said.

“We already do this stuff. We already invest to have this kind of information available for our clients,” said David Schiller, director of sales and associate broker at Pyramid Brokerage Co. in Buffalo, an affiliate of New York-based Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest private commercial brokerage.

“It’s how business is done, and it’s how we remain well ahead of the innovation curve and get the best results for our clients the way we do it.”

Schiller also said the residential and commercial real estate worlds can’t be served by the same kind of system because they’re completely different. Where homebuyers are in the market at a particular time and have plenty of options to choose from that meet their criteria, businesses are often able to take more time and wait for the right property to come along. And they’re more demanding.

“Our systems that we’ve invested a lot of money in are different,” he said. “They’re better and more accurate, and they provide better information to our clients than a listing system that is simply a listing system.

“It’s not the panacea of push a button and get all the information and assume you’ve got all the right answers. It just doesn’t work that way.”

Kucharski said he respects such views and understands realtors’ efforts to market their own properties and establish their client base. But he doesn’t agree that commercial deals take a lot longer anymore, especially the larger and mid-sized projects that BNE works on.

“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” he said. “But in our business, it’s what the marketplace says we’re looking for. Companies are making decisions very quickly, and to try to beg their patience . . ., you’re going to eliminate yourself.”

Supporters say the venture represents a major step forward for a community that, until two years ago, had no automated means of sharing information. Instead, brokers and the BNE had to search every individual firm’s Web site, call or e-mail each other, review voluntary online sites like LoopNet, rely on word-of-mouth, or peruse fliers and advertisements.

“You were just on your own,” said John E. Fletcher, associate broker at Sperry Van Ness Commercial Realty in Amherst and president-elect of the commercial realtors group. “There was no centralized area. Each company had their own things.”

That was a “significant disadvantage to us” when out-of-town prospects came calling, Kucharski said.

“By the time we get the information back and then into a single uniform format, a week can go by,” said Eric C. Tudor, managing member and co-owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial. “When I get a call from one of my national brokers or clients, or from a local client for that matter, they want the information now, not days or a week from now.”