BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CoStar Group, Inc. , the number one provider of information services to commercial real estate professionals, today announced the promotion of Jennifer Kitchen to senior vice president of research, a newly created executive management position that reports directly to Andrew C. Florance, the company's president and chief executive officer. Kitchen, who has been with CoStar for 12 years, had previously served as vice president of field research.
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In her new role, Kitchen is responsible for leading CoStar's initiatives for gathering, researching and verifying commercial real estate property data, both in the field and in research centers at the company's Bethesda, MD headquarters; Columbia, MD; White Marsh, MD; San Diego, CA; Chennai, India; and Manila, Philippines.
As the industry's largest commercial real estate research organization, CoStar gathers and verifies for-sale and for-lease listings across all commercial property types -- office, industrial, retail, land, mixed-use, hospitality and multifamily -- throughout the United States and United Kingdom. CoStar currently researches and verifies commercial properties in more than 300 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) across the U.S.
"Jenny's thorough understanding of CoStar's research operations in the U.S. and abroad, along with her outstanding leadership qualities, make her the perfect choice for this vital management role," said Florance. "With thousands of new properties a day flowing into CoStar's database from our greatly expanded research operations in 100 new MSAs, and with nearly 1,000 employees in research functions, having Jenny at the research helm will help get us to our goal of complete geographic coverage of the U.S. commercial real estate market easier and faster."
More than 800 highly trained professional researchers personally inspect and photograph each property as well as contact commercial real estate brokers, owners, developers, lenders, tenants and appraisers in an effort to ensure the completeness and accuracy of every listing. The company's research associates update information on buildings with listings every 30 to 45 days in CoStar's massive database, verifying approximately 200 details such as rentable building area, floor size, building amenities, for-sale and for-lease availability, asking rental rates, vacancy rates, 360-degree images, high- resolution photographs and property contacts. In addition, CoStar's field researchers drive a fleet of specially equipped, high-tech mobile units and cover more than 4 million miles a year inspecting, photographing and transmitting real-time commercial property information to CoStar's office- based researchers. The company currently has its fleet of research vehicles, including 89 environmentally friendly Prius hybrids, operating in 43 states.
Kitchen, who joined CoStar Group in 1994 as a research analyst for the company's first New York City research team, has held increasingly responsible management positions within the company. Between 1995 and 1997, she led CoStar's research expansion into the Los Angeles market and managed its research operations on the West Coast. In 1998, Kitchen established the company's first field research and photography operations, earning a subsequent promotion to director of field research and photography. She was appointed vice president of field research in 2004, where she led the company's overall field operations for collecting building-level data and photographing properties throughout the United States. During her tenure, Kitchen grew the field research department to more than 200 professionals, led an effort to develop patented field research methodology and software, and headed an initiative to build CoStar's database library of more than 3 million property images.
Kitchen holds a B.A. from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
About CoStar Group, Inc.
CoStar Group, Inc. is the number one provider of information services to commercial real estate professionals in the United States and the United Kingdom. CoStar's suite of services offers customers access via the Internet to the most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information on 66 U.S. markets, London and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, the company has approximately 1,300 employees throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, including the largest professional research organization in the industry.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. More information about potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CoStar's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and CoStar's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, under the heading "Risk Factors." In addition to these statements, there can be no assurance that by having Ms. Kitchen as senior vice president of research, CoStar will reach its goal of complete geographic coverage of the U.S. commercial real estate market easier and faster, and that CoStar's professional researchers will be able to ensure completeness and accuracy of every listing. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update such statements.
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