“I was a Jewish, white, Latino, addict in the heart of a very traumatized African American community that had suffered incredible injustice, and I found myself, once again, filled with emotional pain and trying to figure out what role I could play in making things better. And if I could help repair it, maybe I could help repair something in myself.”
The founders of Primestor Development have been best friends since they were twelve years old. At least in Leandro Tyberg’s version, co-founder Arturo Sneider has saved his life time and time again. They may have spent their early days arguing about who the “truer” artist was, John Lennon or Pink Floyd, but Sneider would also urge his best friend to leave Los Angeles, to get off drugs and alcohol, and to restart his still young life. Their friendship endured, even when Tyberg’s addictions resurfaced.
This isn’t the typical origin story for an enduring organization that has now spent decades acquiring, developing, leasing, and managing transformative, community-oriented projects in urban areas that more traditional investors and developers have often overlooked. It’s not the usual story, but perhaps that’s the only way this could have happened.
A Chance to Serve
Leandro Tyberg had returned to the US from Italy after finishing his high school education away from all of the bad influences that had stuck to him like glue in Los Angeles. He thought he was going to enter politics, to find a way to make his world a better place, but once he got the first taste of real politics, it broke his heart so fundamentally that he once again gave in to his addictions. Tyberg’s father reached out to see if his son could find a different way to serve.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of four white police officers who had beaten black motorist Rodney King on tape resulted in 63 deaths, 2,300 injuries, and an estimated $1 billion in property damage. Tyberg’s father wanted to know if his son could figure out how to rebuild a building he owned that had burned to the ground in a neighborhood heavily affected by the riots.
“Arturo, who is a financial genius and an incredibly good person, was able to get a lease signed with the County of Los Angeles to build a Head Start program for kids,” Tyberg recalls. “We would be responsible for the development and construction of a new 4,000-square-foot building that would provide free early childhood education, along with health, nutrition, and family support services to low-income children and families. Arturo got us a small business loan and, effectively, told me to focus on the actual development, the building of the building.”
The only problem was that Tyberg knew absolutely nothing about construction or architecture. He spent his days literally working side-by-side with construction workers, digging ditches and learning the trade. When he didn’t know a term, he would run back to the office to look up words in a construction dictionary.
He was building a foundation in himself, too.
“Every time something new went up, it felt like a metaphor,” Tyberg says. “Columns went up on the jobsite, and inside me, too. Foundations got poured. A roof got built, and I felt myself feeling safer. We were building in South Central Los Angeles, and I had never felt more at home. I have always felt more comfortable being around people who understand just how difficult it can be to build a life. Being an outsider in South Central was a complete reflection of how I felt on the inside. I never felt like I belonged anywhere—in Argentina where I was born; in LA, growing up, or in Italy where I went to high school. And yet, in that neighborhood, ironically, I felt like I belonged.”
Opportunity, Not Charity
That experience would ultimately become Primestor, an organization that has created more than 8,000 local construction jobs with over $700 million in wages generated, 60% above the median income. Primestor investments have generated 20,000 local permanent jobs over the last 34 years. A local-hire philosophy has generated more than $1.3 billion in annual local economic activity. In the process, more than seven million square feet of contaminated urban land has been remediated. Projects include affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, schools, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, shopping centers, and essential goods and services like clinics, banks, and grocery stores.
Recent projects, like the transformation of the LA County Historic General Hospital campus in East Los Angeles, into a “Healthy Village,” highlight Primestor’s continued commitment. The 30.8-acre campus will transform the long-vacant site to include affordable, workforce, and mixed-income housing, expanded wellness and wrap-around supportive services, community-serving retail and neighborhood amenities, public plazas, open spaces, and other efforts to create thriving communities.
“Both this project and ‘The Walk’ [a sustainable retail development in Norwalk, CA with 360 market-rate and affordable residential units, and 89,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space which is currently under construction] are emblematic of the incredible potential of what can be done when you marry a developer that sees the community as a partner, with local elected leaders that authentically represent their constituents, and a community that recognizes their value and their voice,” Tyberg says. “When you put those ingredients together: private investment, the public realm, and the local community, then you can create something special, something beautiful, and something transformative.”
This meaningful work is always worth the effort, Tyberg says, because it has provided him the opportunity to serve his community in a way he was never sure he would be able to. The work has given him meaning and a foundation to build his life on.
“The work we do isn’t charity, our community doesn’t want charity,” Tyberg says. “They want opportunities and investments made in a way that respects their culture and their history. They want a voice and a vote in how their neighborhood gets built. This is how you can use real estate as a vehicle for meaningful investment, self-empowerment, and healing.”
KPRS Construction is proud to partner with Leandro Tyberg and the Primestor Development team on projects that create lasting value for the communities they serve. Leandro’s commitment extends beyond development—he genuinely cares about the people who will live, work, and gather in the spaces he helps create. His dedication to strengthening neighborhoods throughout Southern California, combined with the authentic relationships he builds along the way, has made a meaningful impact on countless communities. We are grateful for our growing partnership and look forward to continuing to build alongside him for many years to come.
