About Holthaus Realty & Development, Inc.
From Bob Holthaus, President of Holthaus Realty & Development, Inc.:
Holthaus Realty & Development has been in business for over 35 years, serving both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area. Formerly known as Ed Holthaus Realty, the company was founded by my father, Ed Holthaus, Sr., in 1974. For years, he specialized in the development of large parcels of ground into three acre lot subdivisions, primarily in West St. Louis County (Chesterfield, Ellisville, Wildwood, and Washington areas) and Eastern St. Charles County (the New Melle, Augusta, and Hopewell Road areas). By developing subdivisions, he fed his brokerage business, creating lots to be sold to the general public. Originally, there was a home building division as well, vertically integrating the process of ground acquisition, subdivision development, lot sales, and the eventual building and sale of homes to end users. I grew up watching my father and guys like his first real estate boss and mentor, Tom Shaw, virtually own the market west of Clarkson Road; the two together have developed over 60 subdivisions in Wildwood, Chesterfield and St. Charles County.
In addition to residential development and brokerage, we have developed a number of commercial properties over the years, starting with the Chesterfield Industrial Park in the early 1970s, one of the first industrial parks developed outside of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport complex in the Chesterfield Valley. After the "Great Flood" of 1993, we represented almost all of the ground owners between Long Road and Annie Gunns in the Chesterfield Valley in their sale to THF Realty, opening the door for the Chesterfield Commons Retail Development.
In 2001, following in the footsteps of my father, I joined the company and we shortly thereafter built our first retail center, also in the Chesterfield Valley, known as Spirit Plaza. Since then, we have built College Plaza in Belleville, IL, and are currently working on the development of Edison Crossing, in the Chesterfield Valley. We also have a retail center slated for Highway N (Hwy N Plaza) in St. Charles County at some point in the future.
In addition to our retail developments, we have developed two industrial parks in the Chesterfield Valley (Chesterfield Industrial Park in 1975, and Wings Corporate Estates in 2008). We have also built a number of office and office-warehouse buildings throughout the years.
Although most of our development work has completed through investment partnerships we have formed, in 2008 we were hired by the franchisee of Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken to find and develop sites for them. Since then, we have built a new Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken in St. Peters, Missouri, and will complete our second Lee’s, in Belleville, in the Summer of 2009. We are also currently working with another retail outlet to build them their second location, likely in Creve Couer.
In 2008, I bought the company from my father and changed the name to Holthaus Realty & Development, Inc. In addition to being tired of being called “Ed” over and over, I wanted to highlight our development and project management services and to clear the path for my children to some day run the company. In changing the name, I also needed to come up with a new URL for our website and email address, and chose buymud.com to honor my father and the license plate that he has had on his car since 1974. In additon to the play on words, I hope that it conveys the lightheartedness of our personalities and the sincerity that we strive for in our day to day business dealings.
In summary, we strive for individualized service, personal attention to details, and an unwavering determination to overcome any and all obstacles to get the job done. From landowners, to farmers, to municipality staff, to contractors, to investors, we wear many different hats and have to juggle many different personalities, all in an effort to bring the project at hand to fruition and to create value for our clients, the most efficient, cost effective way available.
Please give us a call if we can help you with your brokerage or development needs.