mydealbook.com is the largest interactive directory and community for commercial real estate professionals and organizations in the US. This week it announced its new name: greenpearl.com.

The company’s CEO Ryan Slack told Inman News that the name change was prompted by the New York Times’ efforts to protect its trademark of the newspaper’s DealBook financial news blog, and that the company had decided to use it as an opportunity to change the name, rather than fight the New York Times.

In a statement on the revamped greenpearl.com website Slack explains further:

“Our new name reflects our shift from being a purely online real estate network to a broader organization that emphasizes real-world events, an expanded marketplace and community features. Our vision for the Web site GreenPearl.com is to become the glue that connects the online and in-person interaction between commercial real estate professionals, as well as investors, working across the entire industry, enabling deal flow in these difficult times.”

Mark Schacknies, head of product development for greenpearl.com said the name greenpearl.com was selected because the visual image of a green orb signifies the increasingly global real estate marketplace and the sustainability movement. “Green pearls are extremely rare in nature and fruitful relationships are very similar. Good business relationships are rare but worth the investment.”

According to the company, mydealbook.com, greenpearl.com’s predecessor, experienced exponential growth in the third and fourth quarter of 2008: active website membership grew from 1,400 to 14,000; unique visitors to the site increased over 100 percent to 27,000 per month; and the total directory expanded from 350,000 to 450,000.

With more than 450,000 professionals and investors listed in its directory, GreenPearl.com helps commercial real estate players build cross-industry relationships and increases opportunities to interact. The vast membership base includes developers, lenders, brokers, investors, attorneys, architects, and more than 30 other types of industry players and includes heavyweights such as CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle. In addition, GreenPearl.com provides members a marketplace to discover and list properties, investment opportunities, service offerings, events, and jobs.

“It is much more than social networking,” said Nima Negahban, partner and chief technology officer of greenpearl.com. “Our site bridges the gap between online and in-person communication and content to accelerate our members’ businesses and productivity on and offline”.

New features and services include:

• Event management, promotion and ticket sales for real estate events
• Events including speed networking, panel discussions, topic-driven expositions, and targeted networking
• Directory of real estate investors, professionals, and organizations
• Marketplace of for-sale, for-lease, financing, and service listings
• Community features including photos, video and document sharing

At the moment greenpearl.com is located in NYC and serves US cities, but is planning expansion.