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About Us
In 2001, Dan Stanbrough recreated a name that is synonymous with central Iowa real estate: Stanbrough Companies - with it's familiar "black and gold" signage - is back.

"When my father started Stanbrough Realty on January 1st, 1960, Des Moines was such a different place.  It's changed a lot, and some of that change can be credited to the forward thinking he brought to the business."

Stanbrough Today

Today, in the surging new wave of growth and expansion in the metro area of Des Moines, Dan Stanbrough guides this transformation as head of the family realty, home building, development and property management companies.

Sons Jeff and Brad hold key ownership and leadership positions in the company.  Jeff is now president and CEO/owner of Stanbrough Realty and Brad is now president and CEO/owner of Stanbrough Homebuilders and Stanbrough Commercial Builders.

Dan Stanbrough has acquired and totally renovated Saylorville Marina into Iowa's largest marina, and is one of the founding shareholders in the new Iowa Speedway in Newton.

"I enjoy the creativity of helping shape what happens for future generations.  I have pride in Iowa and Des Moines.  I've lived here all my life; my kids are fourth generation in this city.  So you get to know a community pretty well, and want to positively impact what's ahead. My sons are very entrepreneurial and I'm proud they are.  They will continue our family tradition."
 

The Family Tradition

Dan said father Gene Stanbrough introduced new methods of marketing real estate to the city, sponsoring the first television show in the early 1960s dedicated to showcasing available real estate offerings.

Gene was the first realtor to open a "branch" office in the city, and we were the first to market available real estate through color tabloids.

Stanbrough Realty, with its distinctive gold signs and black lettering was a family-operated enterprise through the 1960s and early 1970s playing a part in Des Moines' great comeback era of the late 1970s and 1980s.  And through the family name has been in the real estate market ever since the start on New Years Day 1960, the name itself is undergoing a renaissance as a business icon.

Stanbrough Realty changed its name to First Realty in 1983, with Dan as president, grew to 700 sales associates in 60 offices; the family company was later merged into a regional financial institution. 

"In 2001, my two sons were in their early 20s and interested and already both investing and building.  We decided to bring the family name back into the market, something people hadn't seen in many years.  I was encouraged to see how much familiarity our name still had in the community as a real estate company." Gold and black is back!
 

Our Philosophy

"We try to spend our time understand out customers desires.  We ask, 'What do people really want?', 'Where do they want to live?'  We know people want nature and amenities such as trees and water; they don't want just buildings, they want quality recreation and lifestyle aesthetics.  We're very conscious of conservation.  We work around nature.  Our new neighborhoods reflect our commitment to developing in harmony with nature."

As developers, realtors, homebuilders, investors, the Stanbrough Companies contribute at every turn in central Iowa, from high-end residential communities, neighborhood shopping centers, office complexes to downtown and urban restoration of older downtown neighborhoods.

"There was a period in Des Moines of 'tear everything down!'  Now, we see older architecture integrated with new.  The most exciting areas in the country are cultural mixes of different styles, living side by side.

Des Moines is starting to see more than that.  We've come of age."
 

Building For The Future

Unroll the map, and Dan Stanbrough can bring lines and points on paper to life as people-in-action who are realizing goals and increasing potentials. 

In the city of Urbandale, Stanbrough is developing Village Center, a new hub of retail and housing which showcases the companies' new construction and land development expertise. 

Pavilion Park will be West Des Moines' largest new office park on I-80 at the new Alice Road interchange will be co-developed by Dan. 

In downtown Des Moines, Stanbrough is helping move forward the "East Village" concept with numerous properties: "From our standpoint, the areas between the Des Moines River and the capitol building should be a special place.  There's a lot of work ahead.  But I love architecture and historic neighborhoods that have been revitalized.  This is a logical place fro that to happen."

Further east, at the Pleasant Hill interchange, a 150-acre commercial development greatly enhances once neglected fringes of the city with a new hotel, new hospital-sponsored clinic and major retail and office development.

"When someone travels from Chicago or Denver that's the front door into the city of Des Moines and now Stanbrough is well positioned entering the Kansas City market with three new major developments in 2005.  We try to create a vision of what the city's growth should be.  That's what we really enjoy - development of our community and shaping landscapes that will be enjoyed for generations."

Above all we take our reputation very seriously.  Our business is build on our family's reputation of honesty and integrity.