CRE Veterans Pete Van Amburgh & Pete Sanborn Partner to Form Industrial Platform
Newly launched Fort Worth-based industrial acquisition firm, Valrock, partnered with Austin-based Evergen Equity to acquire a 194,255-square-foot manufacturing facility located at 10600 Fischer Road in Von Ormy, Texas, just 15 miles southwest of downtown San Antonio and adjacent to I-35 and Loop 410. The site houses a long-tenured Smurfit Westrock heavy-use corrugated converting facility that has been central to the company’s South and West Texas production network for more than 25 years. The operation serves industrial customers across San Antonio and South Texas. Smurfit Westrock is a global company with packaging locations in 40 countries and $31 billion in net sales.
“This acquisition reflects the core of our thesis at Valrock,” said Valrock Founder and Managing Partner Pete Van Amburgh. “Our focus lies with acquiring mission-critical manufacturing facilities, which are leased to operating companies under long-term net lease structures generating durable cash flow and contractual rent growth, with additional tailwinds from the reshoring of U.S. manufacturing.” The Smurfit Westrock facility is the first direct acquisition for Valrock. The seller, a private investor, was represented by CBRE’s San Antonio Investment Sales Team, First Vice President Andrew Price and Vice President Braeden Bernstein.
Van Amburgh launched Valrock in 2025 to build a scalable real estate operating platform focused on disciplined, opportunity-driven investments. He and Valrock Co-Managing Partner Pete Sanborn have since partnered to lead the platform, combining institutional investment experience with hands-on operating capability. “Van Amburgh and I came together around a shared view on where opportunity is and how to execute it,” Sanborn said. “We have complementary backgrounds but approach underwriting and risk the same way, which allows us to move with conviction. We are actively pursuing opportunities on several fronts as we look to scale the platform.”
Under Valrock, Van Amburgh will be responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the firm’s strategy, capital formation and operations. Before Valrock, Van Amburgh was a founder of PHP Capital Partners, where he led the assembly of a more than 1.3 million-square-foot light industrial real estate portfolio across Texas. Before PHP, Van Amburgh was vice president of development for the national real estate development company KDC. He began his career at CBRE, where he oversaw underwriting of over $15 billion in industrial and office transactions as a part of CBRE National Partners.
Sanborn will direct the investment strategy, acquisitions and portfolio management for Valrock. Previously, he was a senior director at Hines, where he oversaw fund strategy, acquisitions and asset management, totaling more than $8 billion in industrial, multifamily, office, retail and self-storage assets. During his tenure, he helped launch Hines’ $2.5 billion flagship U.S. core-plus fund, which completed 32 acquisitions totaling more than 8 million square feet. Before Hines, he was an associate at Stream Realty Partners focused on industrial leasing and development. He began his career working in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as a senior policy adviser specializing in economic policy. Also, among Valrock leadership is Charlie Combs, who serves as Director of Investments and is responsible for underwriting, due diligence and transaction execution across the firm’s acquisitions.
About Valrock Holdings Based in Fort Worth with offices in Houston, Valrock Holdings is a privately owned real estate operating platform focused on industrial and industrial outdoor storage (IOS) investments in strategic markets across Texas and the Sunbelt. Valrock’s approach to investments focuses on STNL (Single Tenant Net Lease) industrial and manufacturing properties with mission-critical operations. Valrock acquires stabilized or value-add properties with the ability to create durable in-place cash flows due to long-term triple-net lease structures. To learn more, visit https://valrock.com or email info@valrock.com to get in contact.
About Evergen Equity Evergen Equity, LLC (www.evergenequity.com) is a multiple family office that is focused on the real estate allocation of ultra-high net worth families that are based in the United States. These families have built and operated businesses in a variety of industries ranging from technology and energy to automotive and consumer packaged goods. Evergen is hyper-focused on wealth preservation and partnering alongside best in-class operators to steward their families’ capital through real estate investments of all product types and in all markets across the continental United States. To learn more, go to https://evergenequity.com.
