NEW YORK CITY-Red Reef Laboratories International Inc. and New York City-based JDM Capital Corp. have joined forces to make real estate more environmentally friendly. The joint venture will be caller JDM Reef Capital Management LLC.

"We know DeMatteo to be knowledgeable and resourceful in creating value-added real estate opportunities and are confident that this venture will prove to be profitable and beneficial to all participants with the added benefit of improving the environment as we acquire and restore properties," says Claus Wagner-Bartak, president and chairman of Red Reef Labs, in a statement.

Together Red Reed and JDM will buy environmentally distressed properties, assess and then implement changes that will add value and create a more green building. "It is a major initiative that begins to build a platform of broadening our involvement in environmentally enhancing investments that will show returns and create social benefits where we locate opportunities," JDM president Joseph DeMatteo tells GlobeSt.com.

This move has been a long time in coming, according to DeMatteo. "This is an area that we have long been preparing and waiting for the right moment to step into. Our association with Red Reef is that door way. The venture is a statement to the benefit of how environments and lives can be positively impacted by the responsible development and re-development of real estate."

Specific property types and geographic markets are not being targeted at this point. Each possible acquisition is based on that deals profitability and there is no targeted acquisition price. "Our goals are limited only by opportunity rather than size of transaction," DeMatteo says. The firm has identified a number of possible investments already and has singled out some internal properties as well.

After renovating each building to better suit the environment, JDM Reef will review the project to determine where the greatest value lies. DeMatteo says it could "hold, refinance, sell and make direct investments in with existing ownership to unlock some of the efficiencies." Where and when applicable, the firm will apply for LEED certification.

DeMatteo believes that in time, environmentally friendly buildings will be a leading consideration for tenants looking to move and relocate.

"The bottom line is to create profitability while leaving the assets and our environment in a better place than we found it," DeMatteo says.