Estimated net worth: $350 million
Conrad Prebys, 71, is a real estate investor worth $350 million.
He is also the 17th wealthiest San Diegan, according to the San Diego Business Journal’s annual ranking.
Prebys reportedly made his fortune as a buyer, builder and developer of properties , thousands of them. He retained ownership of many of them under his company Progress Construction and Management Co.
Prebys began building up his investments by acquiring apartment buildings in El Cajon, and then continued buying property throughout the rest of the county.
Although a Point Loma resident today, he grew up far from the sounds of crashing waves and seagulls. Prebys is the grandson of Polish immigrants who settled in Indiana. He shunned the easy path that would have led him straight into a steel mill factory for the pursuit of small-business ownership.
Before arriving in San Diego in 1965, Prebys would dabble in, among other things, owning his own pizza parlor in a college town.
