We just got back from the Ritz-Carlton where CoStar founder and CEO Andy Florance announced the launch of its new iPad app, which debuts here today. We hung around for a demo, too.

Here's Andy and Dallas senior exec Devin Polley pre-event.

Andy tells us Dallas was one of the firm's first markets and is one of the 10 ?real? markets (others are made of sugar?) in the country making deals in office, industrial, and retail. From here, the app?s being launched in various markets before its Aug. 15 national release.

Andy shows how the app puts  info at his fingertips without having to wait for WiFi. Features: it filters info to the criteria such as space needed, existing tenants, sales and comps, and contact info. Pics of properties pop up; you can look at the map or an aerial; and there's face-time videoconferencing capabilities. There's access to analytics and demographics for specific sites and the ability to save and create a report on the search and email it to a client, Andy says.

We snapped CoStar's Liesl Dudley, The Weitzman Group's Bob Young, Binswanger?s Kipp Collins,  and CresaPartners' Buddy Turner and Kevin Smith. Andy tells us CoStar has raised $250M in equity to fund the April 27 purchase of LoopNet, which should close by year's end. He also says CoStar's creating a new rating system to replace Class-A, B, and C with one- to five-star rankings for all product types with 5 as the best and 1 as marginal. ?We're trying to address the big variations between Class-A and B, which often differ within categories between markets … we need better definitions.?