Your Approach to Real Estate Development Needs to be Anchored in Fundamentals.

Commercial real estate development is disciplined and structured, not haphazard guesswork. This is an important principle to keep in mind if you are not a developer.

For teams and sports properties looking to relocate or develop land into vibrant mixed-use districts, working with experienced professionals who understand the approach is key. Here are five fundamentals to keep in mind: 

5 Fundamentals

1. Market Opportunity
What's your product mix? Is it office, residential, retail, or entertainment? Is there enough demand for a new hotel, or is the market saturated?

2. Financial Structure
What's your capital stack? How are you balancing debt and equity? What do your partners bring to the table, and what are their financial pressures?

3. Infrastructure
Is there water, sewer, roads, transit, and other heavy infrastructure that make your venture "plug and play"? Or do you need to invest in improving the surrounding infrastructure?

4. Politics
Are your local and state governments friend or foe? What are your leverage points? Who needs to approve this?

5. Public Sentiment
Do you have public support, or are you walking into a fight? Are you well-positioned for a voter-approved referendum? How can you best capitalize on your brand’s goodwill to shore-up public support?

This isn't sexy. It's not the fun part. But these five fundamentals determine whether your project succeeds or becomes an expensive experiment.