Bradley Long likes challenges, so when he was offered presidency of Grubb & Ellis/Mid-America Commercial, he took it in a heartbeat.

“When I was approached for this position, it didn’t take me long to think about it, because I really like a good challenge,” he said. “That is why I am here. It is by far one of the higher points in my life.”

Long has worked with Mid-America Group since 2003, when he started as a vice president of strategic development. On Feb. 1, he accepted the position of president. Before his tenure with the real estate firm, he worked for Maytag Corp. and International Paper Co. and had various positions with the city of Grimes, where he found his zeal for commercial development.

Long will replace Larry Cedarstrom, who’s been president since 2006. Cedarstrom has been named vice president of transaction service and will assist other brokers with their commercial real estate transactions.

The direction of the economy in 2008 is raising new and troubling questions for the new president of the third-largest commercial real estate firm in Central Iowa.

“The biggest challenge is the market we’re in right now and being able to look into our crystal ball and see where we need to be,” he said. “It’s not going to be business as usual, because the market is a little upside down right now. We are going to have to identify certain areas of the market where we can add value for our customer base.”

Long pointed to the relocation of many Wells Fargo Co. offices, a sizable amount of Class A space opening up in West Des Moines, and the large parcels of land that are available in Greater Des Moines as overall challenges for 2008 in the local commercial market.

After 2008, Long thinks the economy will stabilize. He said trends such as the one we’ve seen for the past year happen every seven years and thinks a rebound will happen by 2010.

“Negative perception is a very hard thing to overcome, and that is really want we need to do” he said.

Outside of the increased stress levels and loss of sleep, Long feels as if he has reached a high point in his career and has large goals for Grubb & Ellis/Mid-America. Long hopes to bring more awareness to the company’s new partnership with Grubb & Ellis, bring new brokers into the firm and increase the company’s property management division, all of which he wants to accomplish in the next few years.