Hubbell Realty Co. acquired a multi-tiered Omaha homebuilder and development company in a deal that closed Dec. 31 and gives the firm a foothold in a growing market that is similar to Greater Des Moines.

Boyer Young Development Co. and affiliated firms the Home Co. and Premier Land Title Co. will retain their respective names while operating as separate units reporting to the Hubbell Homes operating division.

Boyer Young is an 18-year-old land development company that added the Home Co. homebuilder in 2012. The firm’s focus is on single-family residential development, but Hubbell President and CEO Rick Tollakson said townhome-style construction will now be in its future.

“That will be the first area that we focus on with them,” he said.

Townhomes are a bit of a rarity in the Omaha residential market, where the focus has been largely on single-family homes and apartment buildings.

Hubbell acquired 1,000 residential lots in various stages of development in the deal. Boyer Young co-owners Mark Boyer and Tim Young will remain with the company, as will Home Co. owners Dave Vogtman and Nick Dolphens. The majority of the firms’ two dozen employees also have been retained.

Hubbell has looked for the last year to acquire a partner in the residential market as a way to expand its revenue streams, with the search including Sioux Falls, S.D., where Hubbell owns several multifamily properties, and Sioux City, Tollakson said.

As a homebuilder and land developer, Boyer Young is similar in many ways to Hubbell, but on a smaller scale.

In 2018, the Home Co. built 80 homes for roughly $28 million in gross annual sales. Hubbell, on the other hand, closed on 263 homes for $83.3 million in gross revenue, the highest gross revenue ever for Hubbell Homes. In 2016, Hubbell Homes closed on 266 homes for nearly $60 million in gross sales and in 2017 it closed on 248 homes for $73.3 million in gross sales.

“Hubbell was looking for a suitable partner to expand and diversify our homebuilding portfolio across the Midwest region, and after a year of discussions, we are fortunate to be where we are today,” Tollakson said. “We are thrilled with their leadership, staff, partners and overall community relations and engagement, and we look forward to expanding those relationships.”

Tollakson said the expansion to Omaha had nothing to do with the increased homebuilding competition that Texas-based D.R. Horton Inc. brings to the Greater Des Moines market with its acquisition in early December of Classic Builders, one of the largest homebuilders by volume in the local market.

“The good thing I see about Horton is that they like to make a lot of money,” Tollakson said. The firm has been the country’s largest homebuilder by volume for the last 16 years. 

The acquisition of Classic Builders has been viewed as an indication of the strength of the Greater Des Moines economy.