Published: Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009 11:09 AM
Allen Tate to close Fort Mill office
Allen Tate Realtors will close the doors to its Fort Mill location in a consolidation effort that will merge local realtors, company officials said.
The Fort Mill office is anchored at 501 Springcrest Drive in Preachtree Plaza. An office representative confirmed the consolidation but referred questions to the company's headquarters in Charlotte. Company officials downplayed the closing of the Fort Mill branch.
"We are doing nothing but merging our Fort Mill office into one of our locations to better serve our clients," Pat Riley, president and chief operating officer, said. "The realtors who live, work and play in Fort Mill will still service our Fort Mill market."
The consolidation will take place by the end of the month, Riley said.
No one will lose their job in the pending merger, Riley said about the realtors who are independent contractors.
"This decision will not impact their business relationship with the company," Susan Larkin, vice president of marketing and public relations, wrote in a release issued Friday.
The release notes that Allen Tate Realtors is merging its Fort Mill office with several locations, including sites in Rock Hill and Lancaster, and Steele Creek, Lake Wylie and Ballantyne, N.C.
"We are able to provide outstanding customer service to the Fort Mill area from any of these offices," Larkin wrote in the release. "Advances in technology have enabled realtors to become more efficient. As a result, agents are spending more time out in the community with their clients and less time in a traditional office setting."
The pending merger is not expected to hamper business, but it will upgrade effectiveness, Larkin wrote.
"Many companies today are looking at ways to improve efficiency," Larkin wrote. "Consolidation of office space is simply one of those ways. Despite the consolidation of this office, Allen Tate remains committed to the Fort Mill community."
She emphasized that the move does not mean the company is pulling out of the local market. Once a hotbed of home sales, Fort Mill, like most of the country, has seen the market cool with a severe downturn in the economy.
"Despite the consolidation of this office, Allen Tate remains committed to the Fort Mill community," Larkin said.