Kuester Real Estate Services has run out of room in its second floor office in the Community First Bank building on Stone Village Drive, so it's building a new office down the street.

The company is planning a two-story, 18,000-square-foot office building on Hwy. 160 W. beside the Kanawha Insurance Co. building, designed by architect Robert Johnson. Metrolina Builders will do the construction work. Kuester hopes to break ground in June and finish construction by the first quarter of 2009, company President Faison Kuester Jr., said. The total project will cost about $3 million.

"We love the [Hwy.] 160 corridor," Kuester said. "It allows our company the ability to grow in the future."

Joyce Presley Realty also decided to find new digs recently. Realtor Joyce Presley decided to move her company from a stand-alone building at 3086 Hwy. 160 West to another stand-alone office at 1481 Gold Hill Road. The paint is still fresh on the walls and Presley said she still has a lot to unpack, but she, her assistant and three agents are open for business at the new office.

Presley said she needed better parking for her clients. She also got a better deal on the rent at the new office and it has much better visibility and signage.

"I think my move will be good," she said. "There's much easier access for my clients."

Further east on Hwy. 160, Kuester plans to inhabit approximately 6,000-square-feet in the new building and lease the rest to office users and medical practices.

"Including us, we're looking at 60 percent of the space already committed and we haven't even broken ground yet," Shaw Kuester, III, said.

About 5,000-square-feet remain available , he added. However, no leases have been signed yet, so Kuester declined to identify possible tenants.

While the sub prime mortgage crisis has been starting to creep into the local market, Kuester said the commercial and office real estate sector remains strong, thanks in large part to federal regulators continuing to cut interest rates. Plus he adds, the demand for medical services in Fort Mill will continue to grow, especially once the state settles the Fort Mill hospital issue.

"Think about 160, Shaw Kuester said. "This will be the only medical office building on 160 for the next year, everything else is retail or housing."

In business for nearly 16 years, Presley handles residential, commercial and vacant land sales in North and South Carolina. The commercial side of the local real estate market is the hottest part at the moment, she said.

"A lot of people are willing to take a chance and move their business," Presley said. "But location is still key."

Things are getting tougher on the residential side, though, in what has become a buyers' market. Sellers still want top dollar for their homes, and many of them probably paid too much for them when they bought the homes initially, real estate experts are saying.