Is PB Companies rebranding following Petetit’s arrest?

December 14, 2015

By KAREN VELIE

PB Companies, a business marred by allegations of financial mismanagement and criminal actions against a principal owner, appears to be attempting to change its image and its name.

Since its inception in 2012, PB Company partners John Belsher and Ryan Petetit have been in court over multiple financial controversies because of failures to pay contractors and for not following building code regulations. In addition, Petetit has been charged with five felonies and six misdemeanors for issues such as assault, writing bad checks and drunk in public.

In the past few weeks, since Petetit’s latest arrest for assault, the company erased its website and its Facebook page. In addition, multiple employees have scrubbed their affiliation with PB Companies from their LinkedIn pages.

Calls to PB Companies phone lines are picked up by a receptionist who answers, “Central Coast Developers.” When asked if PB Companies is closing or changing its name, the receptionist said she was not permitted to answer that question.

However, affiliates of the company said they are not going out of business, they are just getting rid of the PB Company name.

PB Companies is a private finance and investment firm which “creates investment solutions and equity plays in the real estate and business world,” according to its former website. Belsher and Petetit have secured money from banks, hard money lenders and private investors to fund their proposed developments, according to county records

PB Companies is involved in more than a dozen proposed projects including a 26 unit housing development in Templeton dubbed Oak Knoll Creek and a large mixed use development on Tank Farm Road in San Luis Obispo.

Oak Knoll Creek was formally known as Toad Creek. Several subcontractors who worked on the Toad Creek development said they have not been fully paid and question if the company’s habit of changing project names is to hide from claims of nonpayment.

In the past few years, multiple lenders have filed foreclosures notices on PB Company properties including Toad Creek while former contractors have utilized the courts to collect their debts.

In October, the court heard an appeal by Belsher of a small claims case in which a web designer was awarded approximately $6,200. The designer had filed and won a claim against PB Companies for breach of contract after the company failed to pay him for developing its website and designing several logos for the company.

Belsher argued that the work was inadequate. In the end, the judge awarded the designer $4,570.

However, PB Companies failed to pay the judgment. Last week, the designer filed a notice to get a bank lien against PB Companies.