Doug Den Adel is no stranger to Graham Group Inc. or the local business community. After spending several years with the Jacobson Companies working with Dick Jacobson, he joined Graham Group in October 2017 as vice president and manager of the company’s industrial assets. 

In November, Den Adel became president of the company that has been developing commercial properties since 1946, and medical office buildings and ambulatory care facilities for nearly 50 years. Graham Group currently has a presence in seven states. Den Adel said his goal as Graham Group’s leader is to continue building customer relationships and to expand the company’s industrial portfolio. 

He also serves as chair of the Blank Children’s Hospital board of directors and serves on the UnityPoint Health board. Den Adel previously served as president of the Iowa 4-H Foundation and as president of the Madrid Community Endowment Fund. Having grown up on a farm near Pleasantville, Iowa, where he raised pigs and cows, Den Adel was active in 4-H with his children and their pig projects.

How has your prior experience prepared you for your current role?

It was a natural fit as we continue to grow our industrial warehouse portfolio. Now what I am learning is our medical and office side. It’s different from the industrial side. Still, there are relationships and leases and negotiations and the experience of different cultures of landlords. Ultimately, we want to be the best landlord any of our tenants have. How do we do that? I know how it was being on the other side of the fence for 25 years. Our goal is to be their favorite landlord, and I know ways to make that happen.

Are there trends you have seen develop that influence your decision-making?

It’s a lot harder to get a deal done nowadays. There’s a lot more scrutiny and more involvement from multiple layers within our organization to get a long-term commitment made. The process has never been easy, but it’s taking longer now to get a quality deal done. Just staying patient and continuing to work on it. Relationships and ease of doing business is still a big part of getting a deal done. It’s definitely harder to get deals done with the oversight and scrutiny of a company. Now, for the big, big deals, there’s multiple signatures on a lease or document to get something done. And terms. Term is still a tricky thing to get as much as you can while still providing some flexibility for yourself if rates go up or interest rates change. Back in the day, you could get longer-term stuff. People like to go shorter today. On the industrial side, people still want their items, their toys and goods and services immediately. We’re still learning what COVID and instant gratification and getting your package the next day is going to mean to the supply chain, but it [warehouse development] has continued to grow substantially in warehouse over the last decade. Hopefully we haven’t got ourselves overbuilt now, but I think warehouse will continue to be an important part of our supply chain as it becomes more nimble and quicker. Another trend is there’s probably a lot less spec buildings going on. There were quite a few of them and now it looks like there’s less of that going on here.

Is there space available to accommodate that growth?

There’s a fair amount of space available in Des Moines today. The space and demand have both gone up, and there is more available than there has been in a long time in this market. A long time ago, we had a lot of empty space in Des Moines but since then that’s all filled up and tens of millions of square feet have been built and used. We kind of hit another step, and I think there’s more space available than needed right now.

Can you describe your management style?

I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and I wouldn’t expect something from my people that I wouldn’t do myself. I want to be a resource for our people and our clients. I’m going to be there to work as a team and do what needs to be done to get the job done, to be for everybody to get whatever done that’s needed.

What are your goals for Graham Group?

I already knew the people and the organization, but long-term I want to continue to grow the company and manage the assets. The Graham Group has been around this town for a long time; it’s been very philanthropic and good to their tenants and the community and we want to continue to be that organization that gives back. I want to continue to grow where we need to grow and shore up areas that need to be shored up. We’re going to continue to focus on our industrial portfolio. That’s my expertise but that’s also the market. Our biggest focus by far is Iowa. All our warehouse portfolio is in Iowa. It would be great to get that warehouse expanded outside of Iowa, but I’m not ready to commit to that at this point in time, but if we get the right opportunity it’s something we will take a look at.

What areas do you see as being ripe for further industrial expansion?

We like the northeast corridor for true industrial warehouse. West, seems more like the educated, finance and marketing, and I know there’s some warehouses out there, but if you look at the big bulk of bigger boxes and so forth, that’s kind of in the northeast corridor of that Ankeny, Bondurant, unincorporated Polk County, that type of area. So that’s why we’re focused on that way because that’s where we think the warehouse labor is at.

Is there a book you’ve read recently that you would recommend?

For pleasure I read Clive Cussler. I was just at the airport and found a new Issac Bell one [part of a Clive Cussler series] that I didn’t know was out. I’ve pretty much read every one of his books. Otherwise I look through a lot of farm journals and supply chain magazines and trends and so forth. I’m getting more into this podcast thing. My kids are getting me more into that stuff a little bit.

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At a glance

Age: 51

Hometown: Madrid

Family: Married, two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in agriculture business from Iowa State University

Activities: Hunting, fishing, spending time with family and friends and volunteering.

Contact: ddenadel@grahamgrp.com