From City Council Minutes to Strategic Intelligence: How ReZone Cracked the Code on Local Real Estate Data

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

02 Feb 2026

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For years, real estate professionals have struggled to turn public government data into valuable intelligence. While vast amounts of information are technically available, the process of finding, interpreting, and applying it remains tedious and inefficient. This persistent challenge led to the founding of ReZone, a company that changed how the industry accesses local zoning and development data. Its recent acquisition by Shovels AI highlights the growing demand for actionable, localized insights in real estate.

The Genesis of a Data Solution

Daniel Heller’s journey to launching ReZone began with a realization while working at a Swiss pension fund. While collaborating with a German developer, he noticed the developer’s leading edge was personal relationships with city council members—not superior analysis or larger budgets. This reliance on insider knowledge exposed a fundamental flaw in how real estate information is distributed.

“This shouldn’t exist. Why does this exist?” Heller remembers thinking. That frustration, along with co-founder Brad Hargraves, drove him to create ReZone. Their goal: make the workings of local government accessible to everyone in real estate, not just those with the right connections.

ReZone’s approach was direct and systematic. The company tracked every city council and planning department meeting nationwide, with a focus on commercial real estate decisions. Whenever a zoning change, economic development initiative, or permit was approved, ReZone would analyze the decision, summarize its impact, and deliver tailored updates to clients interested in that market. This eliminated the need for professionals to sift through minutes and agendas to identify key developments.

The Public Data Problem

ReZone’s core innovation was not in collecting new information, but in making existing public data truly accessible. While government records are technically public, they are often buried in meeting minutes, scattered across websites, or formatted inconsistently. Extracting meaning from these sources required hours of manual research.

Heller describes the challenge: “Public information isn’t necessarily public, and by that I mean it’s difficult to access most of the time.” Local governments generate vast amounts of data, but it is rarely standardized or easy to use.

ReZone solved this by creating a searchable, indexable database of government actions relevant to real estate. By standardizing fragmented data, the company enabled professionals to quickly identify regulatory changes and development trends across jurisdictions. This efficiency was especially valuable for investors, developers, and brokers trying to understand unfamiliar markets or track policy shifts that could affect property values.

Strategic Acquisition and Market Synergy

Two weeks before this interview, ReZone was acquired by Shovels AI, a company specializing in nationwide permit data tracking. The acquisition was driven by a shared belief that public data is only valid when it is accessible and actionable.

“Their thesis is very similar to ours. Public data isn’t public, or at least it isn’t in the way that we want it to be,” Heller says. By combining ReZone’s city council and planning data with Shovels’ permit-tracking data, the merged platform aims to provide users with a comprehensive view of policy changes and their real-world outcomes.

This integration addresses a common gap in real estate analysis: knowing when a new zoning rule passes is only part of the story. For example, if Madison, Wisconsin, allows higher building heights for student housing that includes affordable units, that policy alone is not enough. “The problem is nobody actually does it. You can only really understand why once you have the permit data,” Heller explains. Only by tracking permits and construction activity alongside policy changes can professionals see which incentives are actually being used and how they affect local development.

The Competitive Landscape for Niche Data

Despite the dominance of large, well-funded data providers, ReZone’s experience shows that specialized companies can still thrive by focusing on specific industry pain points. The company’s success was built on selecting high-value sources and applying domain expertise to filter out irrelevant or low-quality data.

“There is something to be said about choosing your sources,” Heller notes. “There is a lot of data out there that is just complete garbage, and it does take some kind of insight into what’s relevant and what isn’t to create sophisticated solutions.”

Rather than competing directly with broad data platforms or general-purpose AI tools, ReZone zeroed in on questions that only industry insiders would ask, such as which developers are active in a market or the real impact of a new zoning ordinance. Heller acknowledges that for generic real estate queries, large language models like ChatGPT have the advantage. But for in-depth, location-specific intelligence, there remains a gap that specialized data companies can fill.

Persistent Information Gaps

Despite advances in data access and automation, significant gaps remain in real estate information. Heller points to developer track records as a striking example. When a developer proposes a new project in a city, officials often lack a reliable way to verify their experience or completed projects.

“Every time a developer comes to a city, we are acting like nobody knows what they have done before,” Heller says. Cities typically start from scratch, asking fundamental questions about the developer’s history. Developers may claim billions in previous projects, but there is little standardized information to verify those claims.

This lack of transparency slows down approval processes and makes it harder for cities, investors, and partners to assess risk. A standardized, searchable database of developer performance would streamline these interactions and lead to better-informed decisions. Heller sees this as one of several areas where technology has yet to deliver fully on its promise.

Looking Forward

As Heller prepares for his next role in February 2026, he plans to focus on scaling established products rather than building new ones from the ground up. “I think I’m pretty good at zero to one. I’m not great from one to ten,” he says. His next opportunity is to join an existing company with proven product-market fit, where he can focus on growth and operational excellence.

Reflecting on his experience with ReZone, Heller sees the future of real estate data in platforms that combine accessibility, customization, and expert curation. He questions whether professionals will continue to rely on expensive industry databases such as FactSet or PitchBook, or whether the next wave will build their own tools to collect and analyze information most relevant to them. “I am excited about databases and how information is going to evolve, and what is going to be important to people,” he says.

The acquisition of ReZone is more than a business milestone; it demonstrates how targeted solutions can create lasting value in a crowded market. By solving the specific problem of inaccessible government data, ReZone set a new standard for what local real estate intelligence can look like.

Implications for Real Estate Professionals

For those working in real estate, the lesson is clear: technology is making information more widely available, but the real advantage comes from turning raw data into actionable insights. Companies that bridge the gap between public records and strategic intelligence will continue to find opportunities, even as automation and AI reshape the industry.

The next phase of competition will be less about who can collect the most data and more about who can structure, interpret, and deliver it in ways that drive real decisions. As the industry continues to digitize, the ability to identify overlooked sources and turn them into useful tools will remain a key driver of innovation and value.