Wes Tuttle, President & Broker-in-Charge, The Tuttle Company

Invest: spoke with Wes Tuttle, president and broker-in-charge of The Tuttle Company, about investor and tenant sentiment across office, industrial, and retail, and the financing and partnership tools helping Rock Hill and South Charlotte sustain growth. “The Greater Charlotte area is the place to be, and it makes sense that the areas around it continue to grow as well,” Tuttle said.

What changes, trends, or shifts over the past year have impacted your business or activity?

2025 was more or less a roller coaster. It was not the best year in commercial real estate, but there were certainly wins here and there.

The biggest pressures were interest rates and construction costs. Coming out of COVID, especially from 2020 through 2023 and into 2024, construction prices felt like they were only going one direction. At the same time, interest rates were climbing, and that combination made it harder for deals to pencil, even when fundamentals were solid.

In 2025, we started to see that ease. Construction prices began to come down or at least plateau, and that helped projects that had been put on hold start moving again. We’re already seeing evidence of that in early 2026.

Rates are also starting to creep down. We hope they creep down another one or two times this year. If that happens, it should continue to spur development and transaction activity, especially for groups that have been waiting for more predictable capital costs.

How would you describe investor and tenant sentiment across your core markets?

Office is still a little bit of a struggle. COVID hit that sector hard. It has rebounded, but it is not back to where it was pre-COVID, and the office investor market is not as strong as it used to be.

Industrial continues to be really hot. The demand is still there, and we continue to see strong activity.

Retail is certainly coming back, but retail has a lot to do with rooftops. Fort Mill has exploded over the past few years in residential growth, and that has brought a lot of commercial and retail with it. Indian Land has experienced the same kind of growth and momentum.

Rock Hill has seen a lot of development as well, especially multifamily downtown, but not as much single-family growth as Fort Mill. So retail has continued in Rock Hill, but probably not at as fast a clip as Fort Mill, largely because the residential growth has been different.

You’ve been involved in large-scale mixed-use redevelopment. What lessons stand out, especially around financing, timelines, and economic shifts?

One of the bigger projects we’ve been working on over the past 10-plus years is the University Center in downtown Rock Hill. It’s a mixed-use redevelopment of an old industrial mill site that’s about 23 acres. It represents roughly a $220 million to $250 million overall investment, with multiple uses: office, apartments, retail, a hotel, and a large indoor sports facility that the city owns and manages.

A major lesson is the value of a true public-private partnership. This has been a real PPP with the city of Rock Hill. Our investor group has partnered closely with the city, and that relationship can be one way around some of the challenges that show up when financing is tighter or costs rise.

The site is in a Tax Increment Financing District. The city can float bonds to pay for infrastructure, and that infrastructure investment is paid back over time through property taxes tied to the development. It’s a tool that can reduce how much capital has to go in up front and still get the infrastructure built that helps the overall project succeed.

We had never done that before, so it has been a learning process. But it has been beneficial for everyone involved, both the city and the private sector, because it aligns incentives and supports the kind of long-term redevelopment that changes a downtown.

What trends are you seeing around walkable districts, experience-driven retail, and mixed-use destinations, and how are you responding?

It all just comes back to quality of life, and that includes walkability and experience. People want places where they can live, work, and spend time without having to drive everywhere. They want retail that includes an experience, not just walking in and buying something.

The lifestyle centers where families can go, kids can play, and adults can enjoy the space are what a lot of people are looking for, especially when that’s in a walkable area.

Rock Hill wasn’t that until the past decade or so. We developed an apartment building on Main Street, the first one in downtown Rock Hill, about eight years ago. At the time, we didn’t know if it was going to work. We didn’t know if people wanted to live in downtown Rock Hill. We put ourselves out there, and it worked. The next thing we knew, we were building our third apartment complex downtown.

Now the next step is bringing in more retail that supports that urban lifestyle: restaurants, retail, and services that people can walk to. If you build the residential base downtown, you can start to build the ecosystem around it in a way that feels authentic and sustainable.

How are clients thinking about office space today, especially as demand shifts toward amenitized, value-driven product?

Office plays a role, especially when you can deliver a product that is unique and priced in a way that makes sense.

We’re in the Lowenstein Building, which is a 220,000-square-foot old industrial mill we redeveloped into a class-A office space. It’s five stories, all concrete, and it’s part of the larger downtown redevelopment.

There are a couple of tools that made that possible. The site is in a TIF district, and the building is also on the state and federal National Historic Register. That means there are historic tax credits, both federal and state, that help support the redevelopment.

Because of those credits and the way the project is structured, we can offer lease rates in the upper teens. Comparable space in Charlotte might be around $40 a foot. That value proposition can attract companies that otherwise would not have considered Rock Hill.

Today, we have tenants like Nucor Steel and Atlas Copco, along with other national and local firms. Atlas Copco is an international company that has had a long-standing presence in Rock Hill. They were the first anchor tenant in the Lowenstein building in 2018 and have since expanded their footprint multiple time. In addition, two of Nucor Steel subsidiary companies are in the Lowenstein Building, each of which has never had a presence in Rock Hill before. When you bring those employers downtown, you bring bodies downtown, and that supports retail, multifamily, and the overall momentum of the district.

Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for The Tuttle Company over the next two to three years?

We have a true affinity for the Rock Hill area. My dad started the company 40 years ago, and we’ve developed a lot of property across York County, Chester, and Lancaster. Our vision is to continue seeing this area flourish.

We do work in Mecklenburg County, but that is not our focus, and luckily, we don’t have to make it our focus. There is still a lot of opportunity south of Charlotte. We work across multiple sectors, industrial, retail, office, and we also do brokerage, so clients come to us for buying, selling, and leasing as well.

From a development standpoint, we pick and choose what makes the most sense based on what the market is telling us, and we want to stay engaged in the greater Charlotte community in a way that fits who we are and where we have the strongest track record.

It’s also interesting how the identity of the region has shifted. Growing up, we were always Rock Hill. We were never Charlotte. Over the years, that sentiment has changed, and rightfully so. We’ve benefited from Charlotte’s growth, and we need to accept that and continue to play off of it. The Greater Charlotte area is the place to be, and it makes sense that the areas around it continue to grow as well.

What major opportunities are ahead for Rock Hill and the region?

One big opportunity is the large site in Rock Hill that used to be tied to the Panthers project. The city doesn’t call it that anymore, but it’s about a 200-acre site that is on everyone’s radar from a state commerce perspective.

I think one day that site is going to change the face of Rock Hill. The city is going about it the right way by being patient and thoughtful about what fits there. They’re thinking pharmaceuticals, R&D, and high-end, high-paying manufacturing. If something like that lands, it would have a major impact because it’s right on the interstate and positioned for large-scale operations.

We’re not involved in it now, but in some shape or form, we will be when that day comes. There could be a lot of spin-off opportunities, and it’s a huge long-term catalyst for this area.