Kelly Stuart is a driving force in Brunswick County. After working in economic development for more than 20 years, the commercial real estate leader is focusing on developing relationships that make things happen. 
 
Stuart is a part of the Carolinas Commercial real estate team and serves as president of the Realtors Commercial Alliance of Southeastern North Carolina (RCASENC). 
 
Previously, Stuart served in several economic development-related roles around the state and country.

She worked as the N.C. Global TransPark’s deputy director of development, North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad Partnership’s vice president of client development, Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s project manager in the Cincinnati area, Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp.’s director of product marketing and Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp.’s director of recruitment.
 
Closer to home, Stuart also served as the assistant director for Brunswick County’s previous economic development department between 2013 and 2016.
 
Once Stuart started to put down roots in Brunswick County, the thought of picking up and moving again did not entice her.  
 
“Before the market went bad in 2008-09, I worked for a developer,” she recalled. “I had a house here, worked with Brunswick County economic development for several years, and I had to look at the next place I would have to pack and start new.”
 
Stuart’s father had been in commercial real estate for 20 years, so she decided to make the move to join him on that side of growing Brunswick County in 2016. 
 
Today, she and her father head the Carolinas Commercial real estate team with Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners.
 
“Economic development is nothing more than selling sites, so commercial real estate is the exact same thing. You just get paid differently. Instead of representing the community, you represent the product,” Stuart said.
 
Stuart is active in both the Cape Fear Commercial Real Estate Women and RCASENC industry groups.
 
RCASENC in 2019 named Stuart as its Member of the Year the same year that the group honored her father and business partner, David, with its Commercial Lifetime Achievement Award. 
 
Kelly Stuart was born in Raleigh, and while her work in economic development brought her to many different states including Kentucky, Virginia and South Carolina, it is Brunswick County where she has chosen to call home.
 
“I have lived in cities. I have done it, and working with RCA (Realtors Commercial Alliance), I am in Wilmington one to two days a week, which is plenty to eat and shop,” she said. 
 
The group also offers Kelly Stuart additional chances to travel to build connections. 
 
“RCA provides excellent opportunities for leadership possibilities to get involved on a statewide and national level. RCA held over the board positions for president for two years in a row, and the president-elect does travel on behalf of RCA, which is good since it allows me to form relationships across the state,” she said. 
 
Relationships are what it is all about, according to Kelly Stuart, who also serves on the NC Realtors’ board of directors.
 
“It allows me to reach out across the state to the Piedmont Triad and the Triangle to figure out how we can know each other better since commercial real estate does not happen at a local level,” she said about the board. 
 
She pointed out that growth in Brunswick County has a great deal to do with the number of permanent residents that call the county home. 
 
“Up until two years ago, a lot of what we did was to represent owners of retail shopping centers and travel to (the) International Council of Shopping Centers, and we don’t have the demographics,” she said. 
 
That requires telling “the story in a different way” and working with small businesses to aid in growth, she said.
 
“With economic development, we worked with big industry, but small businesses are so much more rewarding when creating relationships and helping people navigate the system,” she said. “It is extraordinarily rewarding to drive past a shopping center that used to be vacant and see it as a thriving business.” 
 
Now the land tracts that developers are turning into housing communities are helping to provide the data to back up the story that Kelly Stuart has been telling.  
 
“As people move in, the census reflects the year-round demographics shift, and it will help in a lot of ways to get money towards road and infrastructure improvements and into the school system, and it will make Brunswick County increasingly attractive,” she said.  
 
Kelly Stuart enjoys spending time with work colleagues from CREW and RCASENC and explained that spending that much time together builds personal and professional connections. 
 
“If I was not as active with RCA as I am, we would just be a couple of commercial brokers,” she said. 
 
She looks forward to continuing to reach goals with the organization.  
 
“RCA has started to grow its membership base. When they started under the Cape Fear Realtors, they were just a handful of commercial members. Now we are 440 members from 16 counties,” she said. “Relationships with each other make us good at what we do, so we are looking to expand that.”