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W. Bryan Tuttle -- 2003

What city are you from?
Raised in Rocky Mount, NC
Moved to Charlotte in 1986

Brief summary of career:
I got my real estate license in 1975 because I figured “it would be good to have.” I didn’t have a formal education and was hired by Hardee’s as a Real Estate Director (there were four guys doing a tremendous number of deals each). I did that for several years and was eventually promoted to VP of Real Estate. Eventually, I took a job with Marriott in DC to head up their Real Estate group. At the time, my brother was teaching real estate at Winthrop (he had a PhD), so we decided to go in to business together 25 years ago by forming The Tuttle Company.

What would you be doing if you hadn’t gotten into commercial real estate?
I might have been a private pilot (I have my license and have flown some) or I’d probably just be getting by, serving drinks at some tiki bar in Costa Rica.

How would you briefly summarize the development of Charlotte’s real estate market during your career?
In the mid-90’s the banks were really emerging. Before then not many companies had put together a long string of success. Suburban activity began to percolate. Ballantyne was taking on its identity as the second largest office market. Downtown was still ho-hum, growing out of its teenage years, but at that time, no part of the market wasn’t growing.

Today, everyone’s just trying to “crawl out of the foxhole.” Prior to this crash, we had experienced 16 record years in a row. Now we’re focused on re-tooling who we are (traditional real estate practice is gone). You have to be better at what you do. Forty percent of our business now is work we didn’t do two years ago (handling commercial paper, REO).

What has been your company’s greatest contribution to Charlotte’s commercial real estate community?
I think that we helped to create the sense of place and identity for the upstate region of South Carolina (York, Lancaster & Chester counties) and distinguish it as a valuable and important part of the Charlotte regional business environment. I think that we have emerged from an “ancillary” market into one that is truly considered by all as part of Charlotte’s core business fabric. We are now considered to have four or five of the most dominant and formidable core markets within the region. These core markets have achieved “must serve” status for those businesses that want to say that they have penetrated the Charlotte market.

What’s a brief background of CRCBR’s growth & your time as President?
I’ve been on the board from the start. For many years, this organization was just perceived as another expense item, to be honest. We did it knowing we needed to coalesce for our own benefit. There were great networking opportunities early on (once per month). That social fabric became the foundation of the organization that exists today.

After the original CPE (3rd party administered) crashed and burned, it took several personal guarantees to support it going forward. People were writing personal checks. CRCBR wasn’t as much of a focus for many years because “we were too busy being successful.” This “value crisis” inspired two significant changes: 1) Coalesced CRCBR’s management (“the generals came to the meetings”), and 2) It lead us to the decision to take ownership of the data (quantity and quality). CRCBR was economically sustainable by 2003 but was still building member value & personality. Now CRCBR is not just a “necessary evil” anymore. Looking back, I’m most proud of being considered worthy of the position by Charlotte peers. It could have been otherwise.”

What item would you leave in a time capsule for future generations to see?
A thank you note from me to the organization saying what it meant to me.

What’s your favorite piece of real estate?
It’s a 600-acre parcel in Rock Hill. The attraction is partly that it probably won’t get developed because it’s old family land. I’ve tried to work with them for 20 years and so has everyone else in real estate, but none have succeeded.

What’s your favorite development you’ve worked on?
City of Light in Lancaster, SC. I enjoyed it for the journey as much as the context. I couldn’t be any more proud. The land search alone took three years.

What’s your favorite restaurant?
Mac’s Speed Shop – for the BBQ!

Can you recall any “big deals that never happened"?
One of the biggest deals that never happened was when Charlotte passed on an intermodal facility. It would have been in York County (2,000 acres), but the NIMBY’s (Not In My Backyard) killed it. It would have been one of the biggest in the US, basically a “port on wheels.” The missed opportunity has been felt for decades.



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