Hubbell Realty Co.’s acquisition of 10 apartment complexes from Clarke Co. Ltd. and its affiliates last August received the 2007 deal of the year award at the annual Iowa Commercial Real Estate Association award ceremony last night.

This year’s ceremony recognized a number of top commercial brokers in the area including, Todd Millang of CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial as broker of the year, Brian Phillips of Terrus Real Estate Group for deal of the year under $5.5 million and Colin Panzi, Jeff Panzi and Tom DeWaay of CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial for deal of the year over $5.5 million.

For Hubbell the addition of 1,681 apartments paved the way into a new.

“[The transaction] allowed Hubbell to penetrate a market they haven’t been associated with yet,” said Tom DeWaay, one of three brokers involved in the Clarke deal, in a phone interview on Tuesday. “It was a good transaction for Hubbell and the apartment owners.”

DeWaay, along with Colin and Jeff Panzi, closed the Clarke portfolio deal in August. Clarke Co. estimated the value of the property purchased at more than $100 million.

“This was the largest transaction that I know of for apartments in Des Moines,” DeWaay said. He added that it was the most significant deal he had worked on in his career.

For Brian Phillips of Terrus Real Estate Group, closing the deal he had been working on for seven years was a significant achievement. In November, Phillips closed a deal for a new retail development in Ames.

“It was a big relief,” Phillips said about finishing the transaction for land that covered more than 236.5 acres at the corner of Interstate 35 and 13th Street in Ames. “Not many commercial brokers get to work on such a large transaction of land.”

Phillips said he will be “back in the hunt” for another projects, but hopes it won’t take another seven years to close his next deal.

Other winners at the event: Dave Little of Terrus Real Estate Group was recognized with the rising star award and Sue Clark of Sue Clark Real Estate Services received an industry impact award.