A New York actual property investor is revitalizing small desert cities lots of of miles from Gotham. James Prendamano is now prepared to speculate $55 million in a small county within the southern New Mexico desert with a inhabitants of lower than 12,000 individuals.
Prendamano tells Realtor.com® that he was massively impressed by the truth that the tiny county has its personal copper mine and is house to Spaceport America—the world’s first purpose-built industrial spaceport designed for personal spaceflight, analysis, and testing.
The founder and CEO of PreReal Investments started shopping for property within the county in 2022—snapping up greater than 1,500 parcels within the final three years.
Prendamano had turned his consideration away from New York actual property as a result of he turned uncomfortable with the legislative local weather and overregulation within the state. “It is one thing you possibly can’t actually management, and it took a few of the enjoyable out of it,” he says. “It turned an unrelenting endeavor.”
He says he and his enterprise companion, David Berman, checked out plenty of completely different locations to speculate throughout the nation. “We needed to do one thing impactful—that was prime of the checklist,” he says. “One thing that may be on the legacy aspect, if you’ll.”
Evolution of an funding
Berman had acquired a 200-acre parcel in Sierra County 18 years in the past when Spaceport was introduced. “It was only a hedge—like, ‘Hey, you already know, put a few bucks on the market—we all know these items take without end, however let’s simply watch it,'” says Prendamano. “So it has been on the radar.”
Though they’ve actual property holdings in lots of states, Sierra County stood out to Prendamano, who is aware of when to belief his intestine after almost three a long time within the enterprise.
“I have been round actual property my entire life,” says Prendamano. “My mother was an actual property agent and dealer—a single mother on the hustle—and it made sense for me to become involved, having that strong basis.”
Prendamano began as an actual property agent however quickly turned an expeditor, mortgage officer, and residential enchancment contractor. “I’ve all the time had a curious thoughts,” he says. “I needed to grasp the full breadth of the deal, what might create obstacles for my purchasers, and the way you clear up them.”
From there, he says it was a pure development to wish to be on the opposite aspect of the desk as an investor, and he is now overseen greater than $1 billion in transactional actual property.
Why Sierra County?
Within the midst of the pandemic, Prendamano noticed Sierra County as an unbelievable funding alternative.
“In 2022, house exploration had began to ramp up, and so they have a spaceport within the county with expertise that may’t be discovered wherever else on the planet,” he says. “Copper Flat Mine would quickly carry 1,200 jobs to the realm. You’ll be able to’t construct a extra sustainable grid or do quantum computing with out the copper. We additionally knew with AI facilities, copper could be large.”
Sierra County’s central location additionally impressed him.
“As a result of individuals needed to gradual it down a bit and so they needed to attach in nature, it is laborious to try this in huge cities,” says Prendamano. “Albuquerque’s a giant market and El Paso’s a giant market, and we’re proper within the center.”
The truth that the county stretches alongside a 40-mile lake, is positioned at an elevation of 4,400 toes, and experiences temperate climate have been additionally huge promoting factors. “It isn’t these loopy temperatures you see down within the basins of Texas or in Arizona,” says Prendamano.
As an out of doors fanatic, Prendamano valued the area’s stargazing, fishing, parasailing, and boating actions. “I used to be like a child in a sweet retailer,” he says. “It additionally has a famend sizzling springs, a nationwide forest, and a vibrant artwork scene.”
These are simply a few of the many causes that Sierra County attracts 1.5 million guests a 12 months, “and other people have been going there in some instances for generations,” provides Prendamano.
Revitalizing the realm
After Prendamano and his companion visited native cities like Fact or Penalties and Elephant Butte in 2022 to get boots on the bottom, they quickly determined to get in earlier than the hype begins. “We needed to get in early and lay the groundwork,” he says.
PreReal purchased and renovated the realm’s golf course, golf vary, and clubhouse, and renamed it Turtleback Mountain Golf & Resort. “We shut it down for nearly a 12 months,” says Prendamano. “You title it, we did it.”
Subdivisions are additionally being constructed within the Turtleback growth. They’re now promoting three-bedroom houses with two to 3 loos, beginning at $439,000.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, PreReal bought 50 houses that have been in whole disrepair. “The directions we gave to our [agents] have been by no means compete with an area or somebody who’s trying to relocate right here, however let’s purchase some eyesores and repair them up, then put then again in the marketplace so we are able to have higher housing inventory,” Prendamano remembers.
Group involvement
Prendamano says he has spent hours and hours speaking to individuals and interacting with the neighborhood. “We needed to have interaction with people and so they performed a really energetic and vocal function,” he says.
“They mentioned we’d like higher retail, we purchased a shopping mall. They mentioned we’d like higher inns, we purchased inns. We wish to elevate high quality of life throughout the board.”
He says he is additionally labored with metropolis officers, mayors, metropolis council members, and even the governor. “Throughout the board, there is a shared imaginative and prescient of what the larger image appears like,” he mentioned.
Some locals have been cautious of the adjustments, however Prendamano says that comes with the territory.
“There’s all the time going to be some naysayers,” he says. “You attempt to please everybody, you please no person.”
Instilling hope
Prendamano says this mission is the head of his profession.
“Empowering individuals, creating change, delivering on an expertise that individuals out right here deserve—that is what it is all about,” he says. “We’re giving individuals these pathways, and we’re having enjoyable with it. We wish to create hope for teenagers once more.”
Prendamano, who plans to retire in Summit County sometime, needs to be a steward of change.
He says, “We made a large number of this world, you already know. I’ve two youngsters, and I will be damned if I am not going to assist try to repair it.”
