Leadership
Business Philosophy
The Hunt CRE mission is to offer competent, expert and comprehensive services to ensure our clients achieve success. We’re driven by the golden rule – to treat others as you would want to be treated. Honestly, timely and with fairness at the forefront. We do that through understanding mutual goals, serving as a knowledgeable facilitator and assisting clients in achieving results.
On the service side, we get up every day thinking imaginatively about how we can help our clients achieve their needs and goals. On the investment side, we’re always looking to redevelop properties for their best possible use. Our success also comes from our relationships – with our investment partners, bankers, title companies, architects, engineers and contractors. The successful transactions we’ve helped clients achieve run the gamut. Not only are we brokers, but we're investors. We’ve invested financial resources to reposition office buildings, warehouses and residential projects. We have led efforts to clean up pre-existing environmental issues at properties and to recondition properties to make them usable again.
Hunt CRE Founder
R. Steve Hunt is the founder and principal broker of Hunt CRE, a full service commercial real estate company. For 33 years, Steve has concentrated almost exclusively in the area of office building development and redevelopment, commercial real estate leasing, sales and property management.
In 1988, Steve teamed up with Jim Berry, the late founder and chairman of Republic Parking System (Chattanooga, TN) to lead the marketing and leasing of Republic Centre – one of Chattanooga’s most successful office redevelopment projects. They led the conversion and renovation of the 281,000-square-foot professional office complex, which remains a highly sought-after business address.
Over the decades, Berry & Hunt achieved success through numerous redevelopment projects, most notably Liberty Tower (201,712 square feet) in downtown Chattanooga. The team led the revitalization efforts, transforming the 17-story office building into a LEED Gold certified facility. Following the first-generation tenants in 2013, the project continues to sustain a high occupancy level.
Other projects in downtown Chattanooga stewarded by Hunt include the purchase and redevelopment of 1210 Broad, The Pioneer Building, The 811 Building & CitiPark Garage, The HUB and The Broad Street Garage – totaling over 274,000 square feet and including just over 1,000 parking spaces. Outside of the downtown core, they transformed a former skating rink into a successful commercial center, transformed an under-performing 105-unit rental community into a sought-after investment, and developed a 100-acre residential neighborhood. Having achieved success and after 33 years of working together, Berry & Hunt agreed to conclude their partnership in early 2022. Most recently, Hunt created other partnerships to purchase and redevelop approximately 130,000 square feet of warehouse space in Chattanooga while also representing third-party clients – individuals, companies and corporations – to buy, sell and lease property to satisfy their needs.
A native of Chattanooga, Steve obtained his real estate license in 1982 while attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He and his wife Kim have three sons.
Within his community, Steve has served as junior warden on the vestry of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, president of St. Peter’s Episcopal School Board, chairman of the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance and board member of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, including service as past president of the North Chattanooga Chamber Council. He also serves on the Commercial Realtors Committee of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors (past president) and has served on the Tennessee Association of Realtors Commercial Forms Committee. In addition, Steve is a founding board member of Emily’s Power for a Cure Foundation, which raises awareness and funds to find a cure for neuroblastoma.