Terrus Real Estate Group LLC is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year as it continues to attract the right type of talent to identify and meet the needs of its clients.

The company, which was launched in 2000 by a group of former Principal Financial Group Inc. employees, has grown from a two-client operation to one that employs more than 130 people. Its leader, Randy Minear, said Terrus’ hiring practices have helped the company evolve from a business focused primarily on properties and facilities management to a full-service commercial real estate services firm with six divisions.

“One of the premises of the company was to have people with good knowledge and talent and have a very open environment (in terms of) communication,” said Minear, Terrus’ president.

Minear, 52, spent 20 years with Principal prior to founding the downtown Des Moines-based business, which offers financial and investment analysis, project and construction management, and other real-estate-related services.

In 2004, Terrus, which manages more than 8 million square feet of commercial property in Greater Des Moines, including Principal’s skyscraper at 801 Grand Ave., made its entry into commercial brokerage with the hiring of Bill Wright, managing director of transaction services.

“When Bill came on board, we recognized that we really needed to have our foot in the door in the transaction department,” Minear said, noting that the division has helped Terrus broaden its view of the marketplace and deliver better results to its clients.

“Bill is considered new blood,” Minear said. “We matched up well … as far as where we saw the business going and how we wanted to operate.”

Minear said Wright’s clear, honest and straightforward demeanor is reflective of Terrus’ core competencies and the way it presents itself inside and outside its 10th Street office.

“Bill does a great job of dealing with clients, dealing with other brokers in the marketplace, dealing with other relationships,” Minear said. “That’s of prime importance to us. People recognize that; clients see that. The key is to have people that sign up for that and believe in that, and don’t have other agendas.”

Wright, who manages Terrus’ nine brokers and its approximately 180 listings, said he knows something particular about almost each one of the company’s employees, a personalized approach that goes hand-in-hand with Terrus’ goals.

“All these businesses, they interrelate with each other on purpose,” Wright said. “That was by Randy’s design.”

Wright, 40, was also recently named central regional vice president of TCN Worldwide, a consortium of independent commercial real estate firms that provides integrated real estate solutions on a local and international level.

Terrus hooked up with TCN in 2008.

“We consider ourselves as a niche firm in Des Moines,” Wright said of his employer. “In the real estate world, we like to call them boutique firms. TCN is a conglomerate of boutique firms.”

Though Terrus hasn’t been immune to the effects of the recession – its retrenchment efforts include a December 2008 layoff of 26 employees – the company continues to nurture existing clients as it looks for new opportunities.

“The recession had some impact, but we’ve been holding our own,” Minear said. “We’re probably not where we want to be overall, but it is better than what we feared, frankly. Going into the end of 2008, it was kind of scary times in terms of ‘where’s this thing going to go?'”

“These are times where on the brokers’ side you really hunker down and really work the buyer and tenant representation clients that you have,” Wright said.

One example of how those efforts are paying off, he said, is a project Terrus is handling for Delta Dental of Iowa.

“What started as a consulting contract led into buyer representation,” Wright said of Delta Dental’s pending relocation to an owner-occupied building in Urbandale from a leased space in Ankeny.

Terrus ended up representing Delta Dental in the selection of its new site, and then represented the dental benefits provider in its acquisition of a parcel at 9900 Northpark Drive. Now Terrus is acting as the owner’s representative, working in conjunction with Ryan Cos., the general contractor, in overseeing the construction of Delta Dental’s 25,000-square-foot building.

Terrus will also assist Delta Dental with its upcoming move.

“A client like that, we probably started with them at least two years ago,” Wright said.

Minear said Terrus isn’t a developer. And the company doesn’t own real estate, though Minear and several other officers at Terrus have a stake in two Greater Des Moines developments: an investment property at 100 Court Ave. and Crown Pointe, an approximately 10,600-square-foot retail development in Norwalk.

“We’ve done more than that, but we’ve sold and gotten out of those positions over time,” Minear said. “It ebbs and flows a little bit, depending on market conditions.”

And with its new hire, Jake Christensen, the company is positioning itself to look more closely at overall development opportunities.

Christensen, who joined Terrus in May as its senior vice president of development, has a stake in about 13 projects with Nelson Development, including a proposed 93-room Hyatt Place hotel in the Liberty Building downtown, and AP Lofts, a 70-unit market-rate apartment complex at 328 S.W. Fifth St. expected to open this summer.

“Jake brings another perspective to the table that kind of fits our overall platform,” Minear said. “He brings additional strength in terms of fee development and helping others put projects together.”

“My role here is not that different from what I’ve done for the last seven years, which is to look for development opportunities primarily in the metropolitan Des Moines area,” Christensen said, noting that he will continue to work on his existing projects.

“One of the reasons, personally, why I’m here,” Christensen said, “is the opportunity to work on fee development for corporations or other parties where you use the same development skill set for someone else’s building.”

Christensen, 39, said outsourcing development needs to companies such as Terrus is natural for corporations that don’t have in-house teams dedicated to handling everything involved in getting a project off the ground.

“It is taking all of those factors and having a building come out at the end of the day that meets all of the rules and all of the needs. That’s development.” Christensen said.

“The culture was a huge factor as to why I entertained joining them,” Christensen said of his new employer. “The people are just very capable, very intelligent, but they are really good people on top of that.”

“We’ve done a lot of consulting for groups where we just help them try to understand their situation and make a decision,” Minear said. “We may not be the developer; we may be helping others that want to build a building and assemble a site.

“A lot of our business is the day-to-day blocking and tackling and trying to make sure you are doing things right.

“When you start a business, you never know what all the twists and turns are going to be. So I think making it 10 years is a big deal.”