Contribute the Land. We Bring the Capital.
If your value is in the dirt rather than in your checking account, this is the version that works. You contribute the land, we fund and run the development, and we split the result on terms set in writing before anyone spends a dollar.
When You’d Rather Contribute the Land Than Write Checks
Hiring us for a fee assumes you can fund predevelopment. Not every owner can, and not every owner wants to.
The shape is straightforward. You contribute the land into a single-purpose entity. We bring the predevelopment capital, arrange the construction financing, and run the project through delivery: feasibility, design, entitlement, permitting, consultants, budget and schedule. Proceeds are split on a structure we agree in writing before anyone spends a dollar.
You give up part of the upside. In exchange you stop writing checks, and you stop carrying the predevelopment risk alone. Whether that trade is worth it depends on your parcel and on what else you’d rather do with the money, which is a conversation, not a web page.
We Do Fewer of These Than Fee Assignments
You should know why before you spend time on it.
A partnership uses the same capital and the same attention our own projects use. That makes it a slower yes than a fee engagement, and we would rather tell you that up front than string you along for a quarter. What moves a site to the front of the line:
- It’s in a neighborhood we already build in. Seattle, Bellevue and Kirkland. We’re not learning a new jurisdiction on a partnership.
- The zoning supports enough units to carry the overhead. A partnership has fixed costs a small project can’t absorb. Below a certain yield the fee path serves you better.
- The title is clean enough to contribute. Clear ownership, no partition dispute, no lien surprise. If the parcel needs a year of legal work before it can move, that year happens first.
- The owner actually wants the outcome, not just the exit. A partnership is a multi-year relationship. If you want to be done, sell it, and we’ll make you an offer.
Get Your Own People to Read It
Terms are specific to the parcel. We’ll put a term sheet in front of you before you commit to anything, and we’d expect your attorney and your CPA to read it.
Contributing land into a partnership has tax consequences that look nothing like a sale, and nothing like developing it yourself. We’re not the ones to advise you on that part, and any developer who tells you otherwise is telling you something they shouldn’t.
We also won’t quote you a structure on a web page. Anyone who does is quoting a project they haven’t seen.
Before You Reach Out
What does the split look like?
It depends on the parcel, the capital required, and how much of the risk each side carries. We’ll put a term sheet in front of you once we’ve seen the site, and we’d expect you to have your own attorney and CPA review it before you sign anything.
What if I’d rather just pay a fee and keep the whole upside?
That’s the other path, and for a lot of owners it’s the better one. You keep title, you fund predevelopment, and the value we create stays yours. Here’s how the fee work runs.
Do you take partnerships outside Seattle, Bellevue and Kirkland?
Rarely, and not as a first project together. Infill is jurisdiction-specific work and a partnership is the wrong place for us to be learning a new permit counter.
What if the land already has a project entitled?
Then the conversation is shorter and the structure looks different, because most of the risk you’d be asking us to carry is already retired. Send the approvals and we’ll tell you quickly whether it’s a partnership or a build contract.
Tell Us About the Property
If it’s not a fit, we’ll say so on the call and you’ll have spent nothing.
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