Nick Prassas
Principal, Prassas Capital, LLC. Forty years of institutional finance, applied to one decision: where your 1031 proceeds go next.
Mr. Prassas has been an investment banker for over forty years, financing some of the most innovative public works and project financing in California, Hawaii and Alaska.
- 1988: pioneered stand-alone taxable bond financing for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, helping launch a stadium and arena construction boom that continues today
- Late 1980s and 1990s: developed the negotiated bond markets in Hawaii and Alaska, and led infrastructure financing in both states
- 2000: founded Prassas Capital, LLC for financial advisory, restructuring and capital-raising assignments
- Credit crisis: recapitalized an over-leveraged independent school by repurchasing its bonds with low-cost federal stimulus funding
- 2004: began evaluating 1031 exchanges into fractional ownership of commercial property, and advised on tenant-in-common investments through the boom
- After 2008: spent a decade on the restructurings and bankruptcies of the sponsors that failed
- 2010–2020: specialized in project finance for waste-to-energy facilities. The two stand-alone projects, converting methane gas from organic waste into electric power, were among the first of their kind in the United States.
- 2020: returned to advising investors, now on Delaware Statutory Trusts
Today his practice is devoted exclusively to independent, fee-only DST advisory for 1031 exchange investors, and he stays engaged with each client for the life of the investment.
Complex financings, in public and at scale
Stadium and arena finance
- Arco Arena (Sacramento Kings)
- America West Arena (Phoenix Suns)
- Rose Garden (Portland Trail Blazers)
- Advisor on the L.A. Raiders relocation
Public works in four states
- Corporate, governmental and private clients
- Complex public works in California, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska
Hawaii
- County of Maui
- City and County of Honolulu
- Hawaii Association of Independent Schools
Alaska
- $25 million elementary school for an Inuit village on the Bering Sea
- The last federal divestiture of a major hydroelectric facility, which required an Act of Congress
Renewable energy
- Waste-to-energy project finance since 2010
- Two anaerobic digestion facilities, in North Carolina and Rhode Island
- Financed with 100% equity from York Capital Management
Fractional real estate since 2004
- Deal-structure and risk assessment of TIC and DST offerings
- Hands-on experience with sponsor restructurings after 2008
About Our Firm
Prassas Capital, LLC was born out of frustration with an industry that has evolved into a marketplace of financial tools and tool salesmen. Opinions are many, but creative, independent, accountable advice is rare.
We sell no products and accept no compensation from the sponsors whose offerings we evaluate. Our approach cannot be mass-marketed. It is time-consuming, individual, and dependent above all on judgment. We take on a limited number of clients each year, and only where we believe we can add value.
“Clients are not shopping for tools. They are struggling to solve problems. We see ourselves as carpenters. Financial carpenters. With maybe nicer clothes.”
