Nexstar opens St. Charles office, hires 200

Rapidly growing firm expects revenue to triple in 2003

By Eric Heisler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Fast-growing Nexstar Financial Corp. has opened a new office at the Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County, and it’s hiring 200 employees there to support its national mortgage business.

Nexstar is a mortgage-lending company, founded in 1999 by three entrepreneurs who are its top three managers.

Its business has expanded rapidly, and the staff was cramped at the company’s Creve Coeur headquarters, company officials said, creating the need for a second office in the region. The new office houses a call center, loan-processing center and a technology staff. Nexstar moved into the building last month.

“Our business is growing at a rapid pace,” said Tom Wind, chief financial officer. “This was a great opportunity for us to get more space and have room to continue to grow.”

Wind said he expects the company’s revenue to triple in 2003. He said Nexstar does not disclose its revenue, assets or other financial data.

The company began hiring workers this year and expects to have all 200 on board by Memorial Day. Wind said Nexstar also plans to hire another 200 workers at the new office over the next several years.

The 80,000-square-foot office, 19 Research Park Court, was formerly occupied by McLeodUSA, a company that downsized and no longer needed that much space.

Nexstar will sublease the building from McLeodUSA for the remaining seven years of the lease, said Dennis DeSantis, a broker for Cushman & Wakefield who represented Nexstar in the deal.

The office building is owned by R&D Property Group LLC. Nexstar chose the building, located in an unincorporated area of St. Charles County, because it offers the space and technology capabilities the company needs, Wind said. “It was fully furnished and wired and we could move right in,” he said.

Banks, credit unions and other financial companies hire Nexstar to make mortgage loans to their consumer clients. Nexstar has grown as more financial companies have hired outside firms to make and service mortgage loans in their names, Wind said.

Nexstar is a privately held company owned by the New York-based equity investment group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and by its management. The company employs 400 people at offices in Missouri, Connecticut and Colorado.