A York County developer is planning a $3.2 million office building in the Tega Cay area that he expects to house medical offices along with his real estate firm.

Faison Kuester, president of Kuester Real Estate Services, anticipates construction will begin in June on the 18,000-square-foot, two-story building, with the structure to be ready for tenants in March 2009.

The building, dubbed One Sixty West, will house Kuester Real Estate Services and other Kuester companies in about 6,000 square feet, allowing the firm to add up to five employees to its 32-member staff in the next year.

About 9,000 square feet on the first floor will likely be leased as medical office space, he says, although he declines to discuss potential tenants.

Kuester's son, Shaw Kuester, a broker with the company, agrees that health-care offices are needed in northern York County. "There's no medical office space down there."

The building, which is being constructed on S.C. Highway 160 near Dam Road, is on 1.6 acres Kuester bought from Springland Inc. late last year. Space in the building will likely be leased for $21 to $22 per square foot, Faison Kuester says.

Metrolina Builders Inc. of Charlotte is the general contractor on the project. Robert Johnson Architects of Charlotte designed the building. Financing comes from Citizens South Bank.

Kuester has sold his interest in a 14,000-square-foot building that currently houses the Kuester office, located about a mile from the new building site on S.C. 160. That building houses the 4,200-square-foot Tega Cay branch of Carolina First bank and was sold to Kuester's fellow investors, Colby Mosier and Scott Wells.

Reported by the Charlotte Business Journal - by Ken Elkins