Richard Joseph Spinelli

Richard Joseph Spinelli is the cofounder of Sandhills Real Estate, a Bronx based student housing company he cofounded in 2020. Since 2022, Sandhills has acquired and renovated houses and apartments within walking distance of Fordham University's Rose Hill campus, concentrated in Belmont, the Bronx neighborhood known as Little Italy and home to Arthur Avenue. Its properties sit on and around Belmont Avenue, Lorillard Place and Bathgate Avenue, and most are three, four and five bedroom apartments and townhouses leased to groups of Fordham students. The portfolio now houses more than 100 students.

The strategy has been deliberately concentrated in one core market rather than spread across many. Density helps: one neighborhood, one leasing market and one reputation with the student body. It also allows Sandhills to operate with what Spinelli calls a resident first mindset, delivering a responsive housing experience with a maintenance radius a person can walk.

On August 11, 2026, Fordham Athletics named Sandhills Real Estate its Exclusive Off Campus Housing Partner and the first sport specific jersey patch sponsor of Fordham Baseball and Fordham Men's Tennis. The company's logo now appears on the uniforms of both programs. Beyond the partnership, Sandhills hosts networking events, reviews student resumes and speaks at student led clubs. The company's leasing and branding run through its in house student leasing brand, Live Off the Hill.

Spinelli earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Boston College, graduating in 2018. He began his career in finance in New York, advising companies on how transactions are evaluated, financed and brought to market. Over time he found himself drawn to what came next: taking an opportunity off the page and being accountable for the outcome. That instinct led him to build Sandhills.

Outside of work, Spinelli is an avid tennis player and fan who has attended the US Open for nearly 20 consecutive years, with a goal of attending all four major tournaments in the same calendar year. He is also a dedicated runner, having completed a 42 mile Last Man Standing race with no formal training or prior race experience, followed by the 2024 Austin Marathon in three hours and 30 minutes. He counts becoming a husband and a father as a bigger accomplishment than anything in the portfolio.

Sandhills continues to acquire within a few blocks of the Rose Hill campus, with the stated goal of becoming the number one owner operator in Fordham's off campus housing market.