Local Roots Give Rhetson Co. Room to Grow – Southern Pines Pilot

Construction of the new upper school academic building at Sandhills Classical Christian School in Whispering Pines is expected to wrap up in December, a fitting Christmas present from the commercial builder attached to the project, Rhetson Companies.

Based in West End, Rhetson is a preferred developer for Dollar General stores and PetSuites of America, among other corporate clients. CEO Brian Clodfelter said Moore Countys growth has encouraged more interest and opportunities to bring his teams expertise closer to home.

We all live and play and raise our kids here. We have always been engaged in the community and have supported many local organizations through the years, he said. We also firmly believe that we are blessed to be a blessing to our community.

Clodfelter, who worked as a golf course superintendent with Pinehurst Resort for 12 years before going into construction, and his wife, Julianne, who was a nurse for 17 years with FirstHealth of the Carolinas, founded Rhetson in 2002.

When the economic recession hit a few years later, they shifted to commercial interests. The company grew its reputation by specializing in developing single-tenant triple-net properties, spanning from Georgia to Virginia, in addition to custom homes.

Rhetsons president, Richard Vincent, who joined the team in 2016, said they typically complete about 40 projects a year.

That is a lot. To have the manpower to execute projects on that scale, Brian spent 11 years building this machine, Vincent said. But for the last few years, we kept talking about doing more projects here.

This is our community. We love this area and we are proud to be here, and we are excited to be part of the positive growth that we have here, said Vincent.

The Rhetson Companies executive team including, from left, Richard Vincent, Julianne and Brian Clodfelter, and Lee Pittman, Jamie Encinosa, and Lottia Freeman.

Rhetson has been involved in developing the Sandhills Classical Christian School (SCCS) campus for three years. Future building plans call for a gymnasium, athletic fields and an administration building, in addition to academic buildings to serve several hundred students.

This is a good example of what we do a soup-to-nuts project where we work with a client from day one to develop their master plan and construction drawings, help them set a budget, and then build, Clodfelter said.

Gene Liechty, SCCS development director, said construction of the upper school academic building has been underway on-schedule and within budget.

Rhetson has been a terrific partner in several regards, Liechty said. If they say they can do it for X and in this timeframe, they get it done. The other thing is their commitment to excellence and communication. Every week we get a progress report of whats been done and what we can expect in the next two weeks.

Our experience with Rhetson has been nothing short of tremendous, Liechty added.

Clodfelter and Vincent said it is these types of business relationships that keep the Rhetson team energized.

We dont have a client or partner that we dont look at like a friend, Clodfelter said.

Other more recent Rhetson projects include construction of the new shopping plaza at Tylers Ridge, near the Southern Pines Ace Hardware on N.C. 22. Tenants include O2 Dental Group, and the corner is anchored by Roast, a new farm-to-table sandwich restaurant and market scheduled to open soon.

This was our first true from-the-ground-up shopping strip center, added Clodfelter.

In addition, his team redeveloped a commercial building at the corner of N.C. 211 and Juniper Lake Road last year, and constructed the new youth building at Christ Community Church on U.S. 15-501 near Pinehurst.

Rhetson is also in the early stages of developing a new residential subdivision in Moore County.

We love what we do. We are passionate about building things, creating value, and participating in our communities. We havent reached the finish line, said Vincent. We have used these past few months, the pandemic, as a time to be introspective. We see this as an opportune year to become stronger and more diversified, to grow and focus on local project opportunities.

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Local Roots Give Rhetson Co. Room to Grow - Southern Pines Pilot