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At least four Grubb & Ellis/Mid-America Commercial brokers, left scrambling to find a new workplace following last week’s announcement that the company will close at the end of the month, have already found a new place to set up shop.

Several more are engaged in talks with various local brokerages as they consider where to land, following Mid-America Group’s decision to drop its affiliation with Grubb & Ellis Co.

“I have already relocated to NAI Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Co.” as a vice president, said Mike Carver, who had been with Mid-America Commercial’s parent company, Mid-America Group, since 1990. “I’m back in business, full speed ahead,” he said.

Carver estimates that the 12 ousted brokers represent more than 200 years of combined experience in the industry.

“I’ve just accepted a position with Denny Elwell Co.,” said Linda Ladd, a departing Mid-America Commercial vice president. “I will be joining that firm the first week in November.” Ladd said the client base she has developed during her 25-year career will help her to attract new business to the firm.Scott Berry, a licensed sales agent who had been at Mid-America Commercial for about three and a half years, will join Stanbrough Realty Co. LLC this week.

“In the long run, it will be a better deal for me,” Berry said, adding that he has a long-standing relationship with the Stanbrough family.

“We anticipate continuing to represent our listings with our new brokerage affiliations,” he said.

“I’ve talked to everybody,” said Mick Grossman, who has been with Mid-America Commerical for about a year.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. They are all good companies. If you have cupcakes in front of you and they all have different colored frosting, how to determine which one to pick?” He said he hasn’t ruled out opening his own brokerage.

John Garvey, 32, considers himself to be a career commerical real estate guy and has been interviewing different firms as he weighs what he considers to be an imprssive number of opportunities for the brokers being affected by this change.

Alex Rueter, John Ginsberg, Bill Seid, Stephanie Tigges and Dean Weitenhagen couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Two Mid-America Commercial employees will be also out of work as a result of the closing, which is slated for Oct. 31: President Larry Cedarstrom and Debra Kastantin, director of research.

Cedarstrom declined to comment on Mid-America Group’s decision to shutter its commercial division, saying only that he is in talks with two or three brokerage houses and hopes to make a decision early this week.

Kastantin said she has no interest in selling real estate, adding that she doesn’t have enough contacts in the “relationship-based business” to make that a viable career path. She said she would rather find a research- and information-oriented job, if she decides to continue in the commercial real estate business.

“The timing with the state budget cuts and massive layoffs of our state workers” is going to make the job hunt interesting, she said. Kastantin has been with Mid-America Group for the past four years.

Carolyn Helmlinger, president and CEO of Mid-America Group, told the Business Record last week that she may retain one or two brokers to continue marketing properties owned by the company. “I still have nine days to go on that” decision, Helmlinger said last Thursday.

Helmlinger said she expects those who are not retained or who don’t immediately find another brokerage to seek out new challenges, such as possibly opening their own businesses. And she doesn’t believe their entrepreneurial spirit will be thwarted by this change.

“They can kind of land on their feet, probably better than anybody” else who has been laid off in other industries, she said. As independent contractors, Helmlinger said, the brokers can transition to the companies that are most advantageous to their careers.

“Des Moines is a close-knit commercial real estate community,” Kastantin said, and the brokerages have a great deal of respect for one another. “Nobody wanted to see this happen,” she said. “We will help each other out where we can and move on.”