Petrus Partners was founded in 1992 by Fred Krimendahl, Frank Walter and Wes Huang with the objective of investing the partners’ capital along with that of other high-net worth individuals who had also previously been executives with Goldman, Sachs & Co. During its first decade Petrus organized equity for its investments on a deal-by-deal basis.

In 1996, Petrus acquired The Spokane Business & Industrial Park (“The Park”) from the local electric utility, Avista Corp. At that time, The Park totaled 80 buildings encompassing 4 million square feet on one square mile, with 15 miles of roads, 10 miles of rail and a water utility. The Park was originally a WWII Navy Supply Center and for 30 years Avista used the decommissioned city of warehouses as an economic development tool; the utility subsidized power-consuming businesses with cut-rate rents. During a proposed corporate utility merger, Petrus acquired the utility’s unregulated properties, including The (then-dilapidated) Park, in a new operating company, Crown West Realty.

Over the ensuing 10 years, Petrus-Crown West modernized The Park, including the construction of 700,000 square feet of state-of-the-art distribution, service retail and lodging buildings. The Park now totals 5 million square feet of new or renovated buildings and is home to 150 companies with 5,000 employees.

Crown West Realty’s team of 40 plus employees has grown its Net Operating Income from $3 million to $16 million and has become expert at redeveloping and repositioning properties. Crown West provides asset and construction management, as well as accounting services in support of all Petrus investments and joint ventures.

In 2001, Petrus-Crown West made its first acquisitions in Phoenix in the aftermath of the collapse of many NASDAQ technology companies and the “9/11” financial downturn. Based on its success in investing in distressed properties, Petrus-Crown West subsequently raised its first discretionary opportunity fund, which was invested in 15 properties in the “Tech-Wreck” markets of Phoenix, Denver and Raleigh-Durham.

Beginning in 2004, Petrus-Crown West formed joint ventures with Travelers Insurance, and later Nationwide Insurance, to acquire and redevelop or reposition properties in value-added investments. Since that time, Petrus and these institutions have funded ventures involving 10 office properties totaling 1.3 million square feet worth $250 million in value today.

Petrus Investors 2005, LP, represents the firm’s second discretionary value-added investment fund, with total equity capital commitments of $125 million. To this day, approximately two-thirds of the firm’s investment capital is from retired partners of Goldman, Sachs & Co.