Site selection to maximize ROI in a mixed-use and neighborhood-center world Announcements like the Sarasota Square Mall redevelopment with new grocery and home goods anchors, the full-price sale of a stabilized strip center in metro Chicago, and a value-add acquisition along Huntsville’s Memorial Parkway all point to the same reality: capital is flowing to locations that can reliably translate traffic into visits and visits into sales. The winning projects are those that get the fundamentals right at the block and intersection level, not in the abstract. That is where C-Site comes in. The platform quantifies actual traffic and driver behavior at the exact address under consideration, then connects those observations to practical decisions about tenant mix, access, staffing, and revenue expectations. For redevelopment sponsors, acquirers, and retailers, this is the difference between a good story and an investable forecast. What to measure to turn traffic into returns C-Site’s methodology is built for site selection decisions that require precision and timeliness. According to the C-Site Insight Product Manual, Ticon generates estimates from continuous year-round observation exactly at the address of interest, with nearly 100 percent road network coverage and over 97 percent coverage on roads classified FRC 6 and above, and 100 percent time coverage. Raw inputs from permanent and portable detectors, traffic counters, GPS and connected vehicles, GIS, and event information are cross verified and processed to produce high resolution metrics for very short road segments, as short as 35 feet and averaging about 120 feet, with time resolution within 5 minutes and in many cases 15 seconds. C-Site reports are up to date to within about one week, rather than the last available DOT count that may be years old. These specifics matter because small differences in approach speed, turn opportunities, and peak load timing drive capture rate and therefore cash flow. For ROI-focused site selection, three measurement pillars are critical. 1) Directional demand and timing, not just a single count C-Site Advanced provides directional AADT for primary and secondary roads and adjacent highways and offramps, intraday volumes in 15 minute bins, daily and monthly fluctuations, and congestion analysis. For a Sarasota-style grocery anchor, this shows whether weekday peaks align with residential departures and school runs, or whether the center relies on weekend surges. For a Chicago strip center with QSR, the 15 minute pattern around lunch hour and the split by direction are what determine queue management, drive-thru throughput, and second-lane value. 2) Likelihood to stop, not only pass-by Average volume is not enough if vehicles are moving too fast or cannot maneuver. C-Site includes driver behavior indicators derived from speed distributions and road network maneuverability, so a team can estimate the percentage of passersby who are willing to stop for shopping. In the C-Site blog New Metric in C-Site Selection Traffic Analytics (2025) the authors illustrate how speed and maneuverability screening complements a traditional trade area, citing a Pennsylvania convenience store corridor with 40,310 people in a 15 minute accessibility radius. For redevelopment along a high-speed parkway, this distinction is essential to forecast store conversion, especially for anchors that depend on frequent trips. 3) Quality of traffic and trade area fit C-Site trade area and demographics overlays help separate local shoppers from through traffic. The product manual specifies that site selection comparisons include total traffic, the percentage of local versus transit traffic, the percentage of visitors with transit behavior versus shopping behavior, and hours of high demand. For a Huntsville asset that will undergo façade and access upgrades, tracking how the local share and shopping-behavior share change by day of week is a practical way to quantify uplift from capital improvements. A practical site selection framework for mixed-use and neighborhood centers Apply a consistent, evidence-based workflow so underwriting assumptions add up from the curb to the cash register.