Peter Diessner has been named chief operating officer of Kraus-Anderson Companies, Inc., the holding company for KA’s family of companies. Diessner has served as president of KA Realty & Development since 2019 and will continue to oversee its day-to-day operations.
As KA Companies’ chief operating officer, Diessner will oversee operations and implement the evolution of strategies pertaining to the business and financial performance for KA Companies and for KA Realty and Development.
Diessner will report to Bruce Engelsma, who is continuing in his role as CEO and chairman of Kraus-Anderson Companies.
During Diessner’s tenure as president, KA Realty and Development have completed more than 700,000 square feet of development, primarily multi-family housing in the Twin Cities metro. Additional development, redevelopment, and master planning efforts are currently in various planning and execution stages, including in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.
With a portfolio of more than 5 million square feet of commercial real estate throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, KA Realty has navigated through the turbulence of the pandemic, successfully working with tenants to set up deferred rent payback plans that has been highly successful, with virtually all back rent collected by YE 2022.
Diessner, an attorney, joined Kraus-Anderson Financial Services Group in May 2018 as director and was named vice president in February 2019. In April 2019, he became president of KA Realty and Development to provide high level oversight of the company’s existing and prospective portfolio of real estate, as well as financial analysis for KA interests and partners. Prior to joining KA, he was a Twin Cities real estate attorney first at Fredrikson & Byron and then at Speeter & Johnson. He focused his practice on transactions and disputes involving real estate.
Diessner received his J.D. from the William Mitchell College of Law and his B.A. in Financial Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College. He is also an MSBA Certified Real Property Law Specialist. Diessner is on the board of the Minneapolis Downtown Council/Downtown Improvement District and Children’s Theatre Company.
