Veteran commercial real estate brokers Paul Weeks and Bob Stewart have decided to dissolve the company they operated for four years and join CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial. For Weeks, it’s a return to familiar surroundings; he started his brokerage career with Hubbell in 1985 and worked there for 16 years. Stewart has about 18 years of experience as a broker and once served as assistant general counsel at Iowa Realty.

Weeks’ new title will be vice president/broker associate. Stewart will be a senior broker associate.

The two men and Peter Brown started Stewart-Weeks-Brown Commercial Real Estate Services as a division of Buyer’s Realty in 2001. “Peter is going to think about what he wants to do for a while,” Weeks said. Members of the Stewart-Weeks-Brown support staff also work with retail brokers at Buyer’s Realty and will not lose their jobs.

The moves are slated to become official today, Oct. 24, and will increase the CBRE/Hubbell roster of commercial brokers to 26.

Kyle Gamble, managing director at CBRE/Hubbell, first suggested the idea to all three partners a year ago. “We thought about it, but we were enjoying what we were doing,” Weeks said. “We left the door open, and about three weeks ago, I called Kyle and said, let’s rejuvenate our talks.”

The lack of a national affiliation was the deciding factor. “We found ourselves out of the loop in handling national office tenant assignments, which historically have been a big part of our income,” Weeks said. “We were for the most part relegated to working with local clientele; that’s fine, but more and more national companies are doing business in Des Moines.” With CBRE, Hubbell’s commercial operation belongs to a network that stretches around the world.

Stewart-Weeks-Brown had been in the midst of developing Windsor Office Park in Johnston. Weeks said he and Stewart will carry that listing with them.