Denny Elwell Co. will hire two commercial agents as the Ankeny-based commercial real estate brokerage plans to open a satellite office in Waukee by July 1.

On March 28, Blake Brown and Michael Billings, founders of Brown & Billings Commercial Real Estate Services, will begin operating under the Denny Elwell Co. umbrella.

“We are working on putting a sales office in Waukee, which will allow us to better cover the Greater West Des Moines area,” said Chris Murray, president of Denny Elwell Co.

Prior to the January 2009 opening of their own shop under the Iowa Realty Commercial banner, both Brown and Billings were employees of Executive Real Estate Services, a division of now-defunct Regency Homes.

Murray said Denny Elwell Co., which owns approximately 2.3 million square feet of real estate and manages more than 700,000 square feet of third-party space, will invest between $75,000 and $125,000 to establish the Waukee office in a company-owned property at 750 Alice’s Road, including costs to improve the building’s interior.

“Waukee is really an untapped market,” Murray said. “It is underserved.”

“They are predominantly known as an Ankeny brokerage right now, and we kind of want to change that,” said Brown, who will serve as the broker associate of the proposed Waukee office. Billings will be a sales associate.

Brown & Billings Commercial Real Estate Services will continue to operate as a property manager for a number of local clients, Brown said, but the business partners’ brokerage activities will be entirely focused on their new employer.

“In terms of real estate, we are Denny Elwell,” Brown said.