The developer is now betting on selling townhouses in under-explored markets in the United States, such as central Florida and the area around Seattle.
“Our proposition that what is valuable does not necessarily have to be expensive is associated with the level of detail that we put into the architectural design. For example, that the common areas are consistent with the sizes of the buildings we build.” These are the words of Alfonso Vigil, founding partner and CEO of Libre Inmobiliaria, an emerging Peruvian construction company in the multi-family building sector and with an expanding portfolio of projects both in its home country and in the United States.
The real estate company belongs to the LibreCorp consortium, founded in 2020, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are talking about a time remembered for the paralysis of investments, in the face of which Vigil, together with his partners Carlos Perales and Juan Pablo Figueroa, opted to take a Plan B.
“We decided to leave the corporate world and found ourselves in this quarantine situation in which we all had to reinvent ourselves. It was a good time to start on equal terms for large, medium and small corporations. So we founded Libre Inmobiliaria Perú, which is the first of the five companies that the group currently consolidates,” Vigil told AméricaEconomía .
In this way, the new manager sought to continue the line forged in his experience as commercial manager of Besco, a company specialized in multi-family social housing buildings, as well as in Edifica, a real estate group focused on the sale of luxury projects for segments A and B. On the other hand, Perales and Figueroa have trajectories based on the real estate and banking sectors, which was decisive for the initial takeoff of LibreCorp.
“The real estate business consists of structuring a project appropriately in a conservative manner, with a well-defined marketing and financial strategy. That is where we understood that there was market knowledge and we saw the glass half full in a moment of opportunity, because everyone had slowed down their sales speeds,” adds Vigil.
The following year, in 2021, Pedro Castillo's victory in the presidential elections generated uncertainty among many property owners in Lima, which led to a significant capital flight.
“There, we found the opportunity to make offers on land prices for these people who wanted to withdraw their assets. So, there was a factor in the evaluation of real estate projects, which is the impact of the land versus the sale of the building. If you buy a piece of land that is optimal enough so that the impact of the land is low, then there is a higher profitability space and that is what we capitalized on from that moment of uncertainty,” explains the CEO of LibreCorp.
The trust in the local market has paid off and today there are four luxury real estate projects in Lima: one completed, two in progress and another in the pre-operational phase. They are located in the residential districts of Barranco and Miraflores, very close to the Lima coast.
THE JUMP TO NORTH AMERICA
At the same time, and without abandoning its investments in Lima, LibreCorp decided to invest in the US real estate market. A second company, Libre Homes, was founded, which decided to start its operations in Florida. Although they did not target Miami, but the center of the state: the plan was to develop houses around the cities of Orlando and Tampa. The LibreCorp partners then acquired the land, managed the legal permits in the counties and finally, recruited contractors ( general contractors ) to supervise the construction from Peru.
In general terms, Florida is an attractive destination for Latin American construction companies due to its warm climate, but above all, the tax benefits that do not exist in other states of the Union. It is in this context that the center of the state is becoming a key development hub with cities such as Clermont, known for hosting high-performance athletes.
This is where Libre Homes has a project of 11 townhouses . This model consists of a multi-level home, which shares at least one wall with other residences. They tend to be tall buildings, with common areas and very present in suburbs. Perhaps the differential value is the opportunity to access a 250 square meter house at a price similar to that of a 100 square meter home in Miami or New York.
However, getting to this point was difficult due to the competitiveness and rigidity of the US market. “All the information is online. So it is essential to make decisions with this data: first you go to the real estate portals and find the days that the houses were listed, the sales prices, how many days it took to sell, etc. In addition, you have a system of real estate brokers, associated with the NAR ( National Association of Realtors ), said Vigil.
The pace had to be slow, so Libre Homes' first move was to acquire just four lots in Auburndale, a town located 25 minutes from Orlando's amusement parks. They were purchased within an existing condominium, with the purpose of building houses. From Lima, they requested construction permits from the local municipality, a process that can be tedious, due to the need to have the signature of a local architect, as well as to comply with various environmental regulations.
“Finally, we closed the circle: we put the construction out to tender, supervised the work, finished building and have already sold three of the four houses. We were able to present ourselves as an American company with Peruvian capital and we were approved for construction, which was an important milestone that allowed us to invest in Tampa and buy ten plots of land there,” says Vigil.
Success in Florida, as well as the potential of the townhouse model , has motivated Libre Homes to venture into Spokane, a town in Washington State, not far from the metropolis of Seattle. In this environment close to the border with Canada and surrounded by forests, the company will build 17 townhouses . In addition, the Peruvian partners have just founded Libre Mexico, a new company that aims to expand to the Aztec country with a view to investing in tourist properties. Tulum, located in the Riviera Maya, would be the first destination, due to LibreCorp's interest in short-term rentals.
“Tulum is a very important holiday destination with many tourists from the United States and Canada who visit Mexico to enjoy it. This creates an economic, commercial and growth hub that demands more housing and hotels, but not the same number of hotels are built as housing each year. So, we have the task of building our own growth hub. To do this, we have local partners with whom we analyze projects and land. Our priority is to put the first real estate development operation into play in the first half of 2025,” highlights Vigil.
