Commercial real estate broker Kurt Mumm has bought the NAI Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Co. brokerage that he has headed since August 2004.

Mumm said today that under the purchase agreement, he can continue to use the Ruhl & Ruhl name for another four years. The brokerage will continue its affiliation with international real estate firm NAI Global, which was bought earlier this year by C-III Capital Partners LLC.

According to a filing with the Iowa secretary of state’s office, the transaction occurred in late July. Mumm said the purchase amounts to a stock transaction. He declined to disclose the purchase price.

Ruhl & Ruhl has operated in Iowa since the late 19th century, but its reputation in Greater Des Moines has been built largely by Mumm and his team.

The West Des Moines operation became a go-to receiver for banks and special servicers who took on properties with problem loans. After taking the held in 2004, Mumm also expanded the firm’s property management arm.

Mumm has been in the commercial real estate business for 20 years. He went to work for Iowa Commercial Realty after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa, then spent eight years at Grubb & Ellis/Mid-America Pacific before leaving to join NAI Ruhl & Ruhl.

“I was exposed to a lot of deals there that you normally wouldn’t see for a number of years,” he said in a 2004 Business Record article. “Here in Des Moines, everybody wanted to talk about real estate opportunities. Every time somebody saw a corner with a bulldozer on it, I’d get a call.”

He was a member of the Business Record’s first Forty Under 40 class in 2000.

Mumm said he plans to hold on to a staff that he is frequently known to brag up. This past summer, Mumm and Joe Viggers were named to the Midwest Real Estate News Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Viggers is president of NAI Global Asset Management Services and vice president for the Des Moines region.

Business Record Archive:
Read an archived Business Record story from 2004 that takes an in-depth look back to when Mumm became president of the Des Moines region of NAI Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Co.