Kyle Gamble is no stranger to Hubbell Realty Co. After all, he’s been with the West Des Moines-based company for 32 years. He’s seen leadership changes and experienced the changes and growth in the Central Iowa market. 

He took over the top spot at Hubbell on Feb. 6 following the retirement of Rick Tollakson, and now that he’s president and CEO, Gamble has his sights set on continuing the expansion of Hubbell to other markets. He said he sees the growth of Hubbell employees as the greatest indication of the company’s success, and where he takes the greatest pride. 

As a leader, he is working to develop himself from someone who executes a plan to someone who sets the long-term vision for Hubbell, which is celebrating its 170th anniversary this year. 

Gamble, who was born and raised in Des Moines, also is continuing a long family tradition of serving the community and the state of Iowa. His grandfather moved to Des Moines in the early 1930s after graduating Harvard Law School to join a law firm Gamble’s great-uncle started around 1913 to help expand the Rock Island Railway. 

The Business Record sat down with Gamble to learn more about his transition to his new role and what his goals are for the future. 

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Tell us about the start of your career.

When I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to get into real estate. I didn’t know anyone at Hubbell specifically but I certainly knew the company. So I interviewed for a property management position and at the end of the interview they’re like, ‘We want you and we’re very interested in you joining our commercial brokers division.’ I didn’t really know a whole lot about what commercial brokerage was, but they took a shot on me and I took a shot on them. It was pretty much a commission-based sales position. That was in 1994 and it kind of grew from there. I was living in my parents’ basement for two years and just tried to learn the business and generate sales, and generate enough income to stay in it.

How has the Des Moines market evolved over the years?

We’ve seen the evolution and it certainly has been in lockstep with Hubbell Realty Co.’s evolution and the Hubbell family’s evolution in Des Moines. The fundamentals of Des Moines have just been phenomenal. It’s been a really consistent place to do business. The employment base here is very strong. The institutions have grown their base here. There’s some volatility to that now, but over the years and over my career here, that’s been the foundation of this community and it’s allowed the public-private relationships to grow dramatically. It’s a quality of life place. It’s a place where you can afford to do business and you can get things done relatively quickly. The infrastructure development has been phenomenal and it allowed for what we see today. I’ve seen it from 1994 on in downtown Des Moines where I was tracking every tenant in the marketplace and the office sector to every tenant out [in the western suburbs].

What lessons have you learned from your predecessors that you carry forward today?

We have a very long-term mindset and we are committed for the next century. One hundred seventy years doesn’t just happen overnight. What I have learned is we need to take into consideration short-term volatility and short-term conditions, macro and micro, but you also have to be confident in location, rate, timing and your people to execute for the long haul. There will be cyclical developments. We believe in the fundamentals here. There will be challenges. There are challenges now. They stay committed to the vocation fundamentals, the right underwriting, the right talent. With that as your guidepost, you’re going to get through it very well.

What did you learn from your parents that you pass along to the next generation of young professionals?

My dad, he treats everyone really, really well. He’s incredibly kind, treats people with dignity, integrity, he remembers names and asks personal questions. He’s just a great statesman. I’ve always tried to be that kind, professional, very stable, consistent personality. He’s very even keel. He doesn’t get too high, and he hardly ever goes negative. The other thing that I’ve learned from him is just persistence. So, to just treat people really well and be persistent because it’s a long game and then stay consistent in your personality.

What are your goals for Hubbell in your new role?

I really want to see us grow our regional footprint. We’re in Des Moines. We’re in Omaha and we’re in Sioux Falls. There are other markets in the upper Midwest that I think we could be impactful in. One of the things I want to make sure we do is really generate a reputation in Des Moines for excellence, or five-star customer service. It’s hard to do because not every project we do is perfect and it’s hard to please everyone we touch. We touch tens of thousands of people every day, whether it be associates or vendors or families in their homes. Getting that reputation we really care for people will make a big difference with repeat investors, repeat clients, and continuing to grow that investment our clients make in our organization. I think that’s an indication of our success. And you can’t optimize what we do without incredible people, so keeping that top talent within our leadership team and growing it through our organization is important.

What does it take to be good at real estate?

You have to be intelligent. You have to be persistent. You have to be thick-skinned and you have to be willing to take risks, be entrepreneurial, and you have to be able to take rejection. When I talk with others, particularly younger people, I tell them you have to have an interaction and share information. Be the collector of information that’s happening in the marketplace and share it. I grew successful in this business by sharing information. I learned about something and I would tell as many people that would listen to me. Make sure you’re giving them market knowledge they can use. If you do it enough it will come back around to you.

What motivates you each day?

What I love about this business is seeing our associates growing, building their families, taking vacations, having positive life events. When I see that taking place in the organization, people having children, people getting married, to me that defines our success. When they feel comfortable to grow their families and have positive, life-changing events, that means we’re doing something. So I really love that.

How would you describe your management style?

Very results-oriented and positioning us for the long term. But I’m also very focused on cultivating a team that’s highly functioning and understands their objectives and goals, and then allow them to do that and try to stay out of their way. I think I’ve been doing a better job of doing that, just putting myself in their position and how would I like my boss to interact with me? It’s hands-off and giving me the resources and direction to do the job.

You have talked about growth the company has had in Omaha. Can you share some details of what that includes?

We just recently had a ribbon cutting on our largest multifamily project we’ve ever done. We’re taking the program that we have here in homebuilding and land development and commercial development, multifamily development, and doing some of that in Omaha. This will always be our home base and headquarters and primary focus. That won’t change, but we need to look at other markets as well. Our shareholders have a lot of investment in Des Moines and they want to diversify. Omaha is a market with strong fundamentals like Des Moines, and we’ve had some success in acquiring ground that is well-located, well-positioned where we can execute.

What’s next for Hubbell in the Des Moines area?

We have land under contract in Ankeny, we’re going to call Marlow 35, which will have over 200 units of rental townhomes. That will probably be starting in the first quarter of 2027. We will start construction on a project in Oskaloosa called Westgate. Stakeholders in that marketplace have been awesome to work with. We have a great capital stack. It’s 48 rental townhomes. There’s another project we will start in Urbandale, that’s Line 7, a multifamily development there. We have Siena Crossing in Ankeny, which will be finalized in the first quarter of next year, and that’s multifamily. We have Callaway at Holland Pointe in Norwalk, which is under construction. Telus is under construction in downtown Des Moines. That is a 32-unit condo community, and we just finished the clubhouse that will serve all of Gray’s Station.

Tell us something people may not know about you.

I’d like to get better at the visionary side of this business. I’ve been in the execution side of this business for 32 years. Now, I’m in a role of less execution, so I need to get out of the way and talk more about what our vision is, what our strategy is for the next two, three, or four years down the road. That’s where my mind has to be. I still get in the weeds, probably too much, but I need to start setting the groundwork for real estate that’s happening three years from now. 

Is there a book you have read recently that you would recommend, and why?

The most recent book is “Relentless,” by Tim Grover. He was the trainer for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. These were not comfortable individuals. They were always moving forward, always striving for knowledge and to gain a competitive edge. They sacrificed a lot to do what they do and they were never satisfied. A takeaway is that you have to be on it every day, staying up on the market and our team, and all the moving parts of the organization. You have to stay on top of it and keep that visioning mentally where we’re going three or four years down the road and it can get away from you quickly if you don’t pay attention to it.

At a glance:

Hometown: Des Moines

Family: Wife Christy and two sons, Sean, 19, and Robert, 21

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., and bachelor’s degree in business administration from Simpson College

Contact: kyle.gamble@hubbellrealty.com