My friend at the Chamber of Commerce basically said that when I got to that point, he can arrange for me to meet every competitive developer in the area to pitch my idea.

For free resources and data, websites like the, FRED, Statistica, YCharts, Trading Economics, and Local government or chamber of commerce are great places to start.

Attend local BNI's and chamber mixers to meet other professionals in the area who might align well with you to send you leads...example: home health nurses, estate planning professionals, probabe attorneys, divorce or bankruptcy attorneys, realtors, property management companies, ...you get the picture :-)Best of luck! 

I would talk to people that have been in that area a long time and are community involved like the Chamber of Commerce, City building inspectors, real estate Agents,  BBB people, City Planning and Zoning people and City Council people or City-involved business people.

I expected all chamber of commerce vanilla covered crap in replies.

Contact the local chamber of commerce(s), they can provide that information or knows who has it.

@Troy Chambers, that is quite an undertaking for your first big deal.

Check the areas Chamber of commerce website

Don't believe everything you hear in the BP echo chamber.

If the tenant has no record , pays on time , accidents happen . back in the late 1980's I had something similar happen a tenant lent out his pistol , he went to clean it and one was in the chamber .