Portland-based Century West Engineering Corp. has purchased the assets of Hayden-based Trindera Engineering Inc.

The 20-year-old company, which will operate as Trindera LLC moving forward, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Century West, says Terry Stulc, former owner of Trindera Engineering. Stulc, who will remain with the company as a senior project manager, declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Century West already has offices in both Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene.

Trindera Engineering’s eight employees have transitioned to Trindera LLC, Stulc says. Ideally, he would like to grow the company back to 15 to 20 employees over the next three years, he says.

Trindera Engineering will continue operating as a separate entity to complete its active projects, he adds, so the two companies will operate in tandem until the necessary steps have been taken to shutter the company fully. Stulc says he’s hoping to have Trindera Engineering fully closed by the end of June.

“It sounds crazy, but it’s a lot tougher to shut down a company than to start one,” he says.

Before it can close, the company has to close out its insurance and 401k plans, he says, “So, it’s going to take another four months minimum.”

Combined, the companies have at least 20 active projects in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area.

In 2017, a large industrial client of Trindera Engineering filed for bankruptcy, leaving the company unpaid for about six months of already invoiced work, Stulc says. Trindera Engineering wasn’t able to recover fully and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 to try to reorganize and rebuild.

A wrench was thrown into that plan later that year when Inland Northwest Bank, Trindera Engineering’s creditor, was purchased by First Interstate Bank. The company was forced to restart the process, and the instability forced the company to downsize.

Century West had been a client of Trindera Engineering since 1996, he says, and when he told the company last year that he would have to close Trindera Engineering, Century West owners approached him about purchasing the company.

Century West Engineering is an employee-owned firm that has been operating more than 50 years. It currently has 65 employees and nine offices throughout Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.

Moving forward, Stulc says, Trindera LLC will focus its service areas on municipal, aviation, select industrial, and automation industries.

“We want to target key clients, not take a shotgun approach.” he says. “Our main focus will be municipal and aviation.”