Terrus Real Estate Group announced yesterday that it had to lay off employees in early December due to the struggling economy.

“We let 26 people go,” said Randy Minear, the company’s president. “For us it’s a sizable number.”

Minear said the acceleration of the economic downturn during the last several months caused “a lot of things (to come) crashing together very quickly” and, like many other businesses, Terrus had to make some adjustments to bring its expenses in line.

“I would say that the whole economic situation that the U.S. and world are in did impact some of our clients,” he said, adding that most of the cuts were centered on construction-related projects.

He said Terrus had a fairly high volume of construction-related activity during most of 2008, but as companies began deferring more projects, the shift led him to make the decision.

“It’s not a very fun thing to go through. … You don’t like having to impact people like that,” he said.

Though Terrus’ staff was reduced by about 17 percent, Minear said there are still growth opportunities in several areas and the business retained enough employees to accommodate them. He said general property management, consulting and the shifting of property assets – from a developer to a lender, for example – are some of the prospects.

Terrus’ nine independent brokers were not affected by the cuts.

“We have a whole spectrum of clients,” some who are trying to cut costs and some who are pursuing opportunities, he said. “Our intention is to keep charging forward.”

For the time being, Terrus is holding off on plans to convert the former Crescent Chevrolet building at 555 17th St., which it acquired in July, into its new headquarters.

“We have things on hold right now until we see how things pull out,” Minear said. “The question of when that is going to happen is hard to nail down right now.”

Matt Anderson, Des Moines economic development administrator, said the preliminary terms of the project have not changed. The city of Des Moines still plans to provide a $375,000 incentive to renovate the building.

“The incentive is enabling us to stay in Des Moines,” Minear said.