Kuester expanding to Boone, North Carolina

Faison Kuester learned in the 1980s that it’s tough to run a business in multiple cities without having employees at each location.

So when his Kuester Real Estate Services received requests to serve clients in two more markets, he decided to open an office in each.

The Fort Mill-based agency, which added its first satellite office two years ago in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is preparing to open in Boone.

Within a year, Kuester says, the firm will add six to eight employees to its staff of 40 as it grows to a four-office operation.

With that expansion, the company will offer a range of real estate services throughout the Carolinas, he says.
Those moves come on the coattails of the firm’s plans to develop a new headquarters building in Fort Mill. And Kuester is considering the addition of a small office in Charlotte to handle projects in areas such as South End and midtown.
He says diversity is the key to the firm’s growth spurt amid the economic downturn. The agency provides brokerage and development services as well as homeowner-association management, commercial leasing and property management.

“We’ve always said, ‘If we throw enough stuff on the wall, something has got to stick,’ ” Kuester says. “The diverse base has allowed us not only to survive but to grow in tough times.”

In the 1980s, Kuester expanded his business into Atlanta, managing those operations for 10 years from Fort Mill. The distance proved problematic, he says. “That was hit-and-miss management. If we’re going to go out of town, I’ve learned we need to commit to putting boots on the ground.”

In Boone, his company will manage a 50,000-square-foot mixed-use project called Boone Point. The development at U.S. Highway 421 and N.C. Highway 105 is nearing completion.

The firm has two other contracts to manage projects in the Boone area, says Shaw Kuester, broker and property manager at the company and Faison Kuester’s son.

In Raleigh, the firm will manage a building being developed by Landcore Commercial on Creedmoor Road.
The firm will have one or two employees in both Boone and Raleigh. They’ll operate from roughly 1,500-square-foot offices in developments the company manages.

Kuester Real Estate Services has added 10 employees during the last 18 months. It will move to its new headquarters in November or December, says Aaron Ligon, who manages residential and commercial development at the firm.

The company will occupy half of the 12,000-square-foot 160 West building. Construction is slated to start in April.
The firm’s current office is about a mile away on S.C. Highway 160.
Reported by the Charlotte Business Journal – by Ken Elkins, Staff writer

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Bryan Kuester

Bryan Kuester

Bryan is the CEO of Kuester Management Group. He has over 15 years of managing community associations throughout North and South Carolina.

His specialties include Community Association Management - maintenance, budgeting for operational and reserve funding, long-range planning, covenant enforcement, amenity management, onsite management, large scale management.