Amrep Corporation
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| Public company | |
| Traded as | : AXR |
| Industry | Land Development, Media Services |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Headquarters | Princeton, New Jersey, United States |
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Key people
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James Wall (CEO) |
| Revenue |
 US$120M (FY 2010)
|
 US$-11.2M (FY 2010)
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|
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US$-9.48M (FY 2010)
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| Total assets |
US$212M (FY 2010)
|
| Total equity |
US$86.6M (FY 2010)
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|
Number of employees
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2,115 (2008) |
| Website | www.amrepcorp.com |
AMREP Corporation is a real estate and media services company based in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, and was founded in 1961 as The American Realty and Petroleum Corporation.
AMREP operates its businesses through two subsidiaries, AMREP Southwest Inc. and Kable Media Services, Inc.
AMREP Southwest Inc. operates AMREP's land development division. Shortly after its incorporation, the company purchased 55,000 acres (220 km2) of land just north of Albuquerque, New Mexico, dubbing the new town Rio Rancho, New Mexico. It planned to subdivide and resell it to retirees and out-of-state vacationers. Rio Rancho slowly grew to a population of 1,000 by 1970. In 1971, it purchased an additional 35,000 acres (140 km2) adjacent to the original purchase.
Initially, the company used an aggressive sales approach to reselling the land. They would buy potential customers dinner and show a short video entitled "Your Golden Future" displaying a picturesque retirement. However, the brunt of the sales pitch was the property's supposed value as an investment. In reality, the homes were poor investments because of the ample lots AMREP owned. This effectively created an infinite supply that would keep prices low for years.
This sales approach eventually led to lawsuits and in 1977, AMREP refocused its sales efforts to appeal to local residents. Selling lower cost equivalent homes to residents in the Albuquerque area proved a more legal and lucrative proposition. AMREP utilized a new sales method to go along with the change in target demographics. By offering significant financial incentives to companies to locate there, they would create jobs in the area. The increase in jobs would naturally bring in people creating a demand for housing. These incentives include tax reductions, inexpensive real estate, and subsidies.
In 1981, Intel decided to build a $50 million manufacturing plant because of the incentives AMREP offered. This brought in a significant number of jobs and therefore a significant increase in real estate demand. AMREP would use this incentive-laden method to attract more companies into Rio Rancho.
Kable Media Services, Inc. operates AMREP's media services division. It was acquired in the late 1960s as Kable News Company. The division provides fulfillment services for magazines and publishers. It also provides graphic arts and marketing services. Kable Media Services in the second largest subscription fulfillment services in the country. In 2009, Kable Media Services became known as Palm Coast Data after the two locations merged.
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Wikipedia