EAST SPENCER — A Cabarrus County home builder plans to construct several dozen homes in East Spencer in 2022.

PresPro Custom Homes, based in Harrisburg, has purchased more than 30 lots in and around the town. John Lambert, chief operating officer for PresPro, said the company intends to build single-family housing that is both affordable and high quality.

Before the company starts building early next year, it’s partnering with the town of East Spencer and Truist Bank to host a tree lighting ceremony at 110 S. Long St. on Saturday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The event will feature free food, drinks and “Christmas fun for the kids.”

“I guess we are stepping into favored territory,” Mayor Barbara Mallett said. “Now we have people looking at us and supporting us in our projects and we are so happy about that.”

Lambert said he hopes the festive ceremony will be something that brings the town together and creates some momentum for the new houses. PresPro intends to start with “four or five” houses at a time in the first quarter of 2022.

Lambert said PresPro first became interested in development in East Spencer a little more than a year ago.

“One of the things that I was required to do was find new places to build, new land,” Lambert said. “Of course, we’re based in Cabarrus. So, we’re focused mainly on northeast Mecklenburg and Cabarrus County, but as we were looking for the ability to build more affordable houses, what many call workforce housing, I had to branch out and go further. So, I took a chance and went up to Rowan County and started looking up there.”

Lambert said he found people who were keen on building in Salisbury and Spencer, but not East Spencer. That piqued his interest. Lambert said he found East Spencer hadn’t seen a new home constructed in 10 years, according to a multiple listing service. That didn’t deter him.

“I have an attraction sometimes to places other people are overlooking,” Lambert said.

Lambert met with Mallett to discuss the prospect of the company entering the community.

“We were talking about some possibilities and I told Mallett I was going to go back to my team and see what we can do,” Lambert said. “One of the things she left me with was, ‘Just give us a chance.’ That kind of stuck with me.”

After conducting some research, Lambert and his team purchased lots in East Spencer. The company primarily targeted empty lots, but it also purchased property with existing structures that will be demolished to make room for new housing. 

“A lot of blight is going to get cleaned up and that will be replaced with new homes,” Lambert said.

The company owns lots on Long Street, Jackson Street and Torbush Street.

PresPro, Lambert said, plans on building “cottage style” homes between 1,300-1,800 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms that could start in the low $200,000s.

“They’ll be nice, modern and new,” Lambert said. “Typically all of the homes have granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and luxury vinyl plank, but they’re still at the price point that is at the lower end of the market.”

Lambert said PresPro will work with Truist Bank to facilitate home loans for interested buyers.

Mallett said she is appreciative of PresPro’s interest in East Spencer. She doesn’t expect PresPro to be the last developer interested in the town, which sits near I-85.

“It had to take one person, and PresPro stepped up to the plate and became that person, that company, that developer, that actually saw something in the town of East Spencer and believed in us and the surrounding area,” Mallett said. “That gives us comfort to see what our future is going to be.”

PresPro is no stranger to Rowan County. The company has also built homes in Granite Quarry and China Grove, Lambert said. It is investing in Salisbury and Spencer as well. PresPro was named by the Charlotte Business Journal as the 28th fastest growing company in the Charlotte Metro Region.

More information about PresPro can be found online at prespro.com.