Austin-based real estate company Turnkey Ventures Inc. is planning to turn a long-closed building at the Roswell Air Center into a modular home manufacturing center.

The City of Roswell, which owns the 45-acre property at 42 W. Earl Cummings Loop, is considering the sale, according to a Feb. 8 City Council meeting agenda. If approved, the deal would have to undergo a 30-day public hearing period before being finalized. The sale price would be $678,500, according to the purchase agreement, and the property would be in possession of Turnkey Ventures’ parent company, ARK Prefab, until 2059.

Turnkey Ventures plans to hire 330 workers over the next five years and will make an estimated $3 million in improvements to the property, according to the same agenda, and invest a total of nearly $12 million into the expansion.

The company will partner with Greenwood, South Carolina-based modular homebuilder Biltwise Structures for the project.

“We are excited to be expanding modular construction into New Mexico in partnership with Biltwise Structures,” David Lawver, Turnkey Ventures CEO, said in a statement. “We look forward to being a part of the Roswell community, bringing in new jobs, and pushing the advancements of residential construction forward.”

The Roswell Air Center building has been vacant for over a decade, with the previous tenant, bus manufacturer Millennium Transit Services, closing its doors in 2008, said Michael Espiritu, CEO of the Roswell-Chaves County Economic Development Corp.

Espiritu said the deal has been in the works for eight to 10 months, adding that the project would be a great source for additional housing in Roswell amid more people moving to the area to work in the nearby oil industry.

“The whole Southeast region needs housing because of the boom in the oil fields. There’s just not enough housing,” Espiritu said.

Turnkey Ventures is set to garner $400,000 in Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) funds once they submit an application, Espiritu said, and plans to utilize the state’s Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP).

As for the timeline, he said the Roswell facility could be operational by mid-2024.

Source: “Texas-Based Company to Bring Hundreds of Jobs to Roswell“