Kidder Mathews Inc., the largest independent commercial real estate firm on the West Coast with $12 billion in transaction volume last year, has established a debt and equity finance division in Los Angeles. The Seattle-based firm, which has offices in downtown, hired Brad Kraus and Jorge Gomez as executive vice president and analyst, respectively, of the new divisions earlier this month. 

The duo will join an office with more than 30 real estate professionals who broker property deals across the health care, industrial, life science and residential markets. 

“Kidder Mathews is on a path of historic growth, and the debt capability lends a lot of muscle to this effort,” said Jim Kruse, regional president of brokerage for the region. 

“The addition of these two professionals in LA rounds out the firm’s offerings to our clients,” Kruse added.

Kraus and Gomez join Kidder Mathews from James Capital Advisors Inc., which separated from the New York firm Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. in July. 

According to Kidder Mathews, Kraus has executed more than $5 billion in capitalizations across the country. The firms hopes to leverage his relationships at entities including regional banks, credit unions and life companies. 

It’s a tough market for commercial real estate right now, as market dynamics including rising interest rates and record-high mortgage rates make capital raising and deployment difficult in sectors like office and retail.

In its third-quarter Los Angeles office market report, Kidder Mathews said leasing activity for offices was down by more than 43% year over year; only 2.4 million square feet was transacted this quarter, compared to 4.3 million in the same period last year. 

According to this year’s Business Journal rankings, Kidder Mathews was No. 16 in the region for deal flow, overseeing $1.2 billion in deal value in 2021.