THE TEN STAGES OF A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Apr 5, 2021 | The Practical Real Estate Lawyer

Many books and articles have been written about the various elements and stages of a real estate development project. Most of those works are written from the perspective of the real estate developer, so they are heavily weighted toward the stages of a project’s life cycle having to do with the developer’s formulation of its initial vision and its subsequent testing of that vision to determine the feasibility of moving forward with the development project. The vision and feasibility stages of the real estate development process are uniquely the province of the developer as entrepreneur and visionary. The lawyer (almost by definition, neither a visionary nor an entrepreneur) rarely plays anything but a minor, peripheral role in these initial two stages of the real estate development process. The lawyer’s role starts once the developer client has come up with its initial idea for the project and reached at least a preliminary conclusion about the project’s feasibility.

The Ten Stages of a Real Estate Development Project - J. Rick Daley - presented by ALI CLE

From the perspective of the real estate development lawyer, the 10 stages of a real estate development project are as follows:

1. Gaining control of the site;

2. Securing essential governmental approvals and incentives;

3. Forming and capitalizing the project entity;

4. Closing the land acquisition;

5. Securing construction financing;

6. Designing and constructing the project;

7. Negotiating the project lease;

8. Executing an interim exit strategy;

9. Operating the project; and

10. Selling the project.

The Practical Real Estate Lawyer

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