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It's hard to believe a real estate services firm that started ever-so-modestly in a garage 12 years ago now has eight offices and covers a three-state region from Houston to Gulfport, Miss., pulling in $5.5 million annually.
But it's true.
Property One Inc., a New Orleans-based business founded by brothers Paul Dastugue and former state Rep. Quentin Dastugue, began when the two left a real estate firm they were working for, and a client offered to lend them $37,000 to start their own firm.
They jumped at the opportunity, working from Quentin Dastugue's Jefferson Parish home for a while. But slowly, they built the company into a formidable force in real estate brokerage, as well as in managing and leasing services.
Currently, Property One manages 7.7 million square feet of property and generates $150 million in sales annually. In the company's eight markets, its properties include office, retail, industrial and multi-family residential. Property One has offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Beaumont, Houston, Dallas, and Gulfport. Currently, the company has 174 employees.
Property One has a strong presence in Baton Rouge. The Dastugue brothers opened a branch on Essen Lane in 1990--subsequently moving to Coursey Boulevard--and took more than a million square feet of product that some local lenders were having trouble selling, said Quentin Dastugue. Since then, the company has sold much of the property, and Property One's local portfolio has decreased to 600,000 square feet in the local market.
Right now, Property One's focus in Baton...