To say that Cape Fear CREW member Kelly Stuart has had many successes in the last couple of years would be an understatement. She has been a driving force to help grow the South Brunswick Islands and surrounding areas and has no plans of slowing down.
Kelly started her career in Raleigh as a consultant to the newly formed regional economic development marketing groups in North Carolina, helping them design and execute a program of work that would equally represent multiple counties with varying needs and resources. Through the regional partnerships, Kelly set up marketing programs, developed client materials and provided training for 33 county development organizations in the state. Kelly served as Deputy Director of Development for the North Carolina Global TransPark, Project Manager for Northern Kentucky Tri-ED in the Cincinnati metro area, Director of Product Marketing for Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development in Virginia, Vice President of Client Development for North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad Partnership, Director of Recruitment for Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development, and Assistant Director for Brunswick County Economic Development. As Manager of Coastal Development for a regional builder and developer in Sunset Beach, Kelly was project manager for design, development and construction of commercial office buildings and residential homes developments. She was directly responsible for all permitting and governmental relations, working with town, county, and state officials to ensure compliance and approvals during the development process.
After more than 20 years in economic development, Kelly joined the Carolinas Commercial Real Estate Team, and represented the owner of over $30 million in retail and mixed-use commercial property in Sunset Beach. This included over 110,000 square feet of shopping center, medical, retail and professional office properties and sales or development of the balance of their holdings for hotel and hospitality development sites. Over the past three years, Kelly assisted this client in acquiring two more shopping centers and was recruited to market additional centers under different ownership, as well as millions of dollars of commercial and residential development property. The Carolinas Commercial team made the move to Intracoastal Realty in March 2020. Today, nothing makes Kelly happier than turning an underutilized property into a thriving business location and works towards that goal every day.
Kelly is a CCIM Candidate and 2021 President Elect of the Realtors Commercial Alliance of Southeast NC (RCA). She sits on the NC REALTORS® Economic Development Committee and is a member of the North Carolina Economic Developer’s Association (NCEDA) and the International Council of Shopping Centers. Kelly previously served on the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is Past Chair of the South Brunswick Islands Business Development Committee. Kelly was just honored as the Realtors Commercial Alliance of Southeast North Carolina Member of the Year for 2019 at the same time her father and business partner, David Stuart, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in Commercial Real Estate. She was featured as “The Fireball” for the May 2020 NC REALTORS® Insight Magazine for their focus on Women in Commercial Real Estate and was a top five finalist in the Business category for the Greater Wilmington Business Journal 2020 Women to Watch.
To Kelly, relationships are the most important thing in building our business. CREW has opened the door to professional referral and networking opportunities, but most importantly, introduced Kelly to a community of like-minded commercial real estate professionals that are quickly becoming her friends. Kelly loves spending time with fellow CREW colleagues and anytime she is in need of a service or support, or asked for a referral, Kelly turns to CREW first.