Brian Bean, owner of Scout Real Estate Group LLC, of Spokane, has closed the company’s office at 429 W. First and joined Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage Kiemle Hagood.

Founded in October 2016, Scout Real Estate focused primarily on residential real estate, he says. Last January, the company had grown faster than anticipated and had 13 agents.

Bean got into commercial real estate in March and chose to focus exclusively on that side of the industry. 

Around the same time, Scout started operating as a team under 4 Degrees Real Estate, Bean says.

Most of Scout’s former real estate agents joined 4 Degrees, he says. Its only employee who wasn’t an agent also joined that real estate brokerage.

“It was a good place for Scout to go and a good place for all of our residential brokers to land,” he says. 

Bean says he’s keeping the Scout limited liability corporation active because it still has use to him, such as in purchasing real estate. However, the company no longer has any employees. 

“I’ll keep Scout alive, but it’s not operating as a brokerage. At this point, I just don’t want to shut it down completely because there’s still value in it to me,” he says.

Bean joined Kiemle Hagood as a managing broker. 

To focus on commercial real estate in Spokane, he says, “You have to be with people who are doing it full time, and I felt like Kiemle Hagood was the best group for me.”

He came onboard with that company in September, the same month Scout’s office shuttered, he says.

Bean says he’s been enjoying his time with Kiemle Hagood.

“Every day, I’m immersed in commercial real estate, so every day, I’m learning and seeing new layers of commercial real estate and the complexity of it,” Bean says.

Bean says he has a handful of listings, including the building Scout had occupied. For now, he’d like to continue to learn as much as possible, but he’d eventually like to focus on retail and office-related real estate. 

Kartchner Engineering PLLC currently occupies Scout’s former space, says Bean. 

The building itself is undergoing renovations on the second and third floors, and Bean is seeking a first-floor tenant, such as a pub or coffee shop, that he hopes would  “bring energy” to the building.