The Sansone Group, one of the St. Louis area’s largest commercial real estate concerns, is expanding into multifamily development through the hiring of Dan Thies as the firm’s new director of multifamily development.

Thies, who has fifteen years in the commercial real estate business, is the latest indication of expansion at the Sansone Group, which has been growing very rapidly in recent years. In a big push for growth, the company has opened nine new offices scattered around the nation over just two years.

The move into multifamily is a big switch for Sansone, which has until now been almost entirely focused on industrial development. Sansone has over 300 employees and 40 million sf under management.