Real estate brokerage firm JLL has added three people to its Des Moines staff as it works to meet the growing needs of its commercial clients, said Marcus Pitts, senior managing director of JLL in Des Moines.

The additions of Nick Anderson, Joe Bergman and Thomas Edwards also come as JLL looks to expand its presence in the Omaha, Neb., market, which it took over from JLL’s Denver office in October 2022.

“We are a client service business, you know, and for us, bringing on talented brokers that can help us grow and scale with our clients as they have needs not only in, you know, Des Moines, but Omaha or other places in the country,” Pitts said.

He said business is ticking up across office, retail and industrial, creating the need for JLL to meet that demand, Pitts said.

“Adding to our bench of real estate brokers in our Des Moines market gives [our clients] better depth to the services we provide,” he said. “We’ve grown over the years by insulating our clients not only with their main point of contact and whatever broker had that relationship up front, but then arming that broker and that relationship with two or three other ready, willing, able and capable brokers to help scale and grow so that workload doesn’t fall on just one person. It falls on a team.”

Pitts said adding team members also helps as JLL maintains its specialized focus, with teams focused on either just retail, or industrial or office.

Anderson will help bolster JLL’s retail team, which is busy in both Iowa and Nebraska with site selections for restaurants and retail strip center work. Bergman will focus on multifamily products under $20 million in both Iowa and Nebraska. Edwards will help JLL’s office and industrial teams.

Pitts said the increase being seen in industrial could lead to more speculative construction taking place in 2025.

“Going back to COVID, industrial was on fire,” he said. “Everybody needed more product and needed it closer to them, and all these big warehouses filled up. And now, those industrial users are reevaluating their supply chain, how much product they really need, and where they need it at. And we’re kind of working through that.”

He said the industrial was slower in Central Iowa in 2023, but JLL was busier in Omaha and the Quad Cities. Now, halfway through 2024, industrial activity has picked up, Pitts said.

During the pandemic, leases were being signed within two weeks, which Pitts said was atypical of a process that usually takes several months or longer.

“Deals haven’t gone away, it’s just taking longer,” he said.

As available space gets absorbed and comes off the market by the end of 2024, it could lead to some speculative development in the future, Pitts said.

“I don’t think you’re going to see any speculative development of any grand scale like it has been the past several years break ground this year,” he said. “But I think some of those developers are targeting sites hoping some of that space comes off the market, and with that you might see some of the speculative development pick back up again in 2025.”

Pitts said similar strengths in industrial, retail and office in the Omaha market has JLL reviewing its resources dedicated to that area.

“With our presence in Omaha, if you asked us where does that growth lead us and looking at our expansion into Omaha and what does that look like a year from now, I don’t think I know the answer,” he said. “We have some active targets there from a brokerage standpoint hoping for something to come together, but we’re actively looking for a boots-on-the-ground solution for brokerage in Omaha to really get the market traction we want.”