A Conversation With Repeat Top Producer Todd Hubbard

 

Todd Hubbard, Managing Principal and President of NAI Robert Lynn’s Fort Worth office, has spent more than 20 years building his career in one of the country’s most competitive commercial real estate markets. We caught up with the 2025 NAI Global Top Producer to talk about what’s kept him motivated along the way, what he’s seeing in Fort Worth’s industrial market and his approach to building a motivated team.

You’ve been with NAI Robert Lynn for more than 20 years. What has kept you motivated throughout your career?

More than anything, it’s the competition and trying to be the best in your market. The motivation changes over time. Originally, there was a fear of failure, and I still have some of that today. But ultimately, once you have momentum, the fear of losing that momentum becomes a big driver. It’s a highly competitive environment, and that competition has always motivated me.

 

You’ve consistently been recognized as one of NAI Global’s top producers. What do you think has been the biggest driver of your success?

Honestly, I think the biggest thing is consistency. It’s showing up every day with a good attitude and effort and being prepared. This business can be difficult. There’s a lot of rejection and a lot of losses. No matter how long you’ve been doing it or how good you are, you’re still going to lose sometimes. You have to be able to manage that, keep working hard and come back the next day ready to do it again.

Eventually, that consistency becomes a habit, and at some point, that habit becomes a lifestyle. If you want to be really good in this business, I think you have to have that mentality.

 

Fort Worth has experienced tremendous growth. What trends are shaping the industrial market today?

The growth has been explosive. Fort Worth has become the 10th-largest population center in the country, so there are a lot of new residents moving into the area.

From an industrial perspective, data center-adjacent uses are driving our market in a way we really haven’t seen since the post-COVID period. We’re seeing a lot of deals of 500,000 square feet or more, and probably 80% of those are data center-adjacent. That’s the biggest storyline in our market right now.

There’s still surplus inventory in some of our submarkets, but we’re finally starting to see traction. We also haven’t seen the level of construction we’ve historically been accustomed to, so I think it could quickly become a landlord’s market by 2027. I also expect we’ll start to see a lot more development get off the ground over the next couple of years.

 

You’ve worked on some significant projects throughout your career. Is there one that you’re particularly proud of?

One that stands out is the construction of McMaster-Carr’s facility at Alliance. It was a deal we worked on for a few years. They were looking to enter the market, buy land and build a facility, but at the time, there really wasn’t land available in the size range they needed as some municipalities that worked for the labor requirement were adverse to Industrial Development.

We conducted an exhaustive search across DFW and had to get very creative to ultimately get a developer to sell us the site. Now, it has just been completed and is an 850,000-square-foot facility with robotics and probably the best aesthetic building in DFW with amazing glass entry and features that we have not seen in the market before. Seeing it all come together after working on it for several years has been very rewarding.

 

You lead the Fort Worth office while also helping shape the broader direction of the company. What’s most important to you when building a strong team?

The biggest thing is building a dynamic culture where people enjoy working together and there’s a high level of trust. No matter what sector someone works in, if they need help, anyone in our office is going to step in. We’ve made hiring good people our priority. We want people who are going to do the right thing by their clients and fit the culture we’ve built. We’re very selective about that.

For younger agents, effort is number one. I can’t want it more for someone than they want it for themselves. This business is too competitive. If you don’t show up every day and put in the effort, you’ll get left behind very quickly.

When I ran training for the company, I coined the three core items required to be great as: effort, accountability and attitude. If you can bring those three things, everything else tends to take care of itself.  We now have those three principals hanging in our offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston.