Hubbell Realty Co. announced today the acquisition of 10 apartment complexes from Clarke Co. Limited and its affiliates, a local real estate company with holdings in Central Iowa and Sioux Falls, S.D. CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial’s Multi-Housing team of Jeff Panzi and Tom DeWaay initiated the transaction. Hubbell Realty previously announced the acquisition of Clarke’s interests in Druid Hill, Riverwoods, and Easter Bay in Des Moines, and Rolling Green in Norwalk.

“We see this as an opportunity to expand and diversify our business in multifamily housing,” Hubbell Realty president and CEO Rick Tollakson said in a press release. “Following our success in downtown housing with projects like the Hubbell Tower Apartments and Court Avenue Lofts, we looked at ways in which we could quickly grow our apartment portfolio. This is a result of those efforts.”

John Clarke, managing partner and CEO of Clarke Co., said, “The Hubbell property management team is in great shape to take over these properties. We are pleased that the buyer is a local company with such a long history of improving the region.”

Steve Niebuhr, Hubbell Realty’s senior vice president of construction and management services, said that he looks forward to making some physical improvements to the multifamily housing developments. “The changes that we have planned for the apartments will boost the quality of life for our tenants almost immediately. Our goal is to give people as many reasons as possible to live in a Hubbell-owned apartment.” Hubbell’s Des Moines-area tenants will be able to purchase a Hubbell Home at a discount.

Eight of the complexes in the acquisition are located in the Des Moines area and two in Sioux Falls. The deal adds 1,682 units to the Hubbell multifamily portfolio, 1,106 of them in Central Iowa. Prior to this acquisition, Hubbell Realty Company’s multifamily housing portfolio consisted of 175 units, all located in downtown Des Moines. Hubbell Realty’s property management division will oversee the new properties.