1 Development Ground Leases and Joint Ventures - a Guide For Owners
Jami Gregory edited this page 2025-06-16 12:58:14 +00:00


If you own real estate in an up-and-coming location or own residential or commercial property that might be redeveloped into a "greater and much better use", then you've pertained to the best location! This short article will help you summarize and hopefully demystify these 2 methods of improving a piece of genuine estate while taking part handsomely in the benefit.

The Development Ground Lease

The Development Ground Lease is an agreement, typically ranging from 49 years to 150 years, where the owner transfers all the benefits and concerns of ownership (elegant legalese for future revenues and expenses!) to a developer in exchange for a month-to-month or quarterly ground lease payment that will range from 5%-6% of the fair market value of the residential or commercial property. It allows the owner to enjoy a great return on the worth of its residential or commercial property without needing to sell it and does not need the owner itself to take on the incredible risk and issue of building a new structure and finding tenants to inhabit the brand-new structure, abilities which lots of property owners merely do not have or wish to discover. You may have likewise heard that ground lease rents are "triple web" which implies that the owner sustains no costs of operating of the residential or commercial property (other than income tax on the gotten rent) and gets to keep the full "net" return of the worked out lease payments. All true! Put another way, during the regard to the ground lease, the developer/ground lease tenant, handles all responsibility for genuine estate taxes, construction costs, obtaining costs, repairs and upkeep, and all operating costs of the dirt and the brand-new structure to be built on it. Sounds pretty good right. There's more!
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This ground lease structure likewise enables the owner to enjoy an affordable return on the existing value of its residential or commercial property WITHOUT having to sell it, WITHOUT paying capital gains tax and, under current law, WITH a tax basis step-up (which lowers the amount of gain the owner would ultimately pay tax on) when the owner passes away and ownership of the residential or commercial property is transferred to its beneficiaries. All you quit is control of the residential or commercial property for the regard to the lease and a greater participation in the earnings stemmed from the new building, but without the majority of the danger that goes with building and running a new building. More on dangers later.

To make the deal sweeter, the majority of ground leases are structured with in the ground rent to secure against inflation and likewise have reasonable market worth ground lease "resets" every 20 approximately years, so that the owner gets to delight in that 5%-6% return on the future, ideally increased value of the residential or commercial property.

Another positive quality of an advancement ground lease is that once the brand-new structure has actually been built and rented up, the landlord's ownership of the residential or commercial property consisting of the rental stream from the ground lease is a sellable and financeable interest in property. At the very same time, the designer's rental stream from operating the residential or commercial property is likewise sellable and financeable, and if the lease is drafted appropriately, either can be sold or financed without risk to the other party's interest in their residential or commercial property. That is, the owner can obtain cash versus the value of the ground rents paid by the developer without affecting the developer's capability to fund the building, and vice versa.

So, what are the drawbacks, you might ask. Well first, the owner quits all control and all prospective revenues to be originated from building and running a brand-new structure for between 49 and 150 years in exchange for the security of minimal ground lease. Second, there is risk. It is predominantly front-loaded in the lease term, however the risk is real. The minute you move your residential or commercial property to the designer and the old building gets destroyed, the residential or commercial property no longer is leasable and will not be producing any revenue. That will last for 2-3 years up until the brand-new building is built and completely tenanted. If the developer stops working to build the structure or stops midway, the owner can get the residential or commercial property back by cancelling the lease, however with a partly built structure on it that produces no income and even worse, will cost millions to finish and lease up. That's why you must make definitely sure that whoever you lease the residential or commercial property to is an experienced and experienced home builder who has the financial wherewithal to both pay the ground lease and complete the construction of the structure. Complicated legal and company solutions to provide defense versus these threats are beyond the scope of this article, however they exist and need that you discover the ideal organization consultants and legal counsel.

The Development Joint Venture

Not pleased with a boring, coupon-clipping, long-lasting ground lease with restricted participation and minimal upside? Do you wish to leverage your ownership of an undeveloped or underdeveloped piece of residential or commercial property into an amazing, brand-new, larger and better financial investment? Then possibly a development joint endeavor is for you. In a development joint venture, the owner contributes ownership of the residential or commercial property to a minimal liability company whose owners (members) are the owner and the designer. The owner trades its ownership of the land in exchange for a percentage ownership in the joint endeavor, which percentage is figured out by dividing the fair market worth of the land by the overall project cost of the new structure. So, for example, if the worth of the land is $ 3million and it will cost $21 million to build the brand-new building and lease it up, the owner will be credited with a 12.5% ($3mm divided by $24mm) interest in the entity that owns the new building and will take part in 12.5% of the operating earnings, any refinancing profits, and the profit on sale.

There is no earnings tax or state and regional transfer tax on the contribution of the residential or commercial property to the joint venture and for now, a basis step up to fair market value is still readily available to the owner of the 12.5% joint venture interest upon death. Putting the joint venture together raises various concerns that need to be worked out and resolved. For instance: 1) if more money is needed to end up the structure than was initially budgeted, who is accountable to come up with the additional funds? 2) does the owner get its $3mm dollars returned initially (a concern distribution) or do all dollars come out 12.5%:87.5% (pro rata)? 3) does the owner get an ensured return on its $3mm investment (a preference payment)? 4) who gets to manage the daily business choices? or major decisions like when to re-finance or offer the brand-new building? 5) can either of the members move their interests when wanted? or 6) if we develop condominiums, can the members take their profit out by getting ownership of specific homes or retail areas rather of cash? There is a lot to unload in putting a strong and fair joint endeavor agreement together.

And then there is a risk analysis to be done here too. In the development joint endeavor, the now-former residential or commercial property owner no longer owns or controls the dirt. The owner has acquired a 12.5% MINORITY interest in the operation, albeit a larger task than before. The risk of a failure of the job does not just result in the termination of the ground lease, it could lead to a foreclosure and possibly overall loss of the residential or commercial property. And after that there is the possibility that the marketplace for the new structure isn't as strong as originally predicted and the new structure does not create the level of rental earnings that was expected. Conversely, the building gets developed on time, on or under budget plan, into a robust leasing market and it's a crowning achievement where the value of the 12.5% joint venture interest far surpasses 100% of the value of the undeveloped parcel. The taking of these threats can be considerably decreased by selecting the exact same qualified, experience and economically strong developer partner and if the expected advantages are large enough, a well-prepared residential or commercial property owner would be more than justified to take on those risks.

What's an Owner to Do?
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My first piece of recommendations to anybody thinking about the redevelopment of their residential or commercial property is to surround themselves with knowledgeable specialists. Brokers who comprehend advancement, accounting professionals and other financial advisors, development consultants who will work on behalf of an owner and naturally, great skilled legal counsel. My second piece of recommendations is to utilize those professionals to figure out the economic, market and legal characteristics of the possible deal. The dollars and the deal capacity will drive the choice to establish or not, and the structure. My third piece of suggestions to my customers is to be real to themselves and try to come to an honest realization about the level of risk they will be willing to take, their ability to discover the ideal designer partner and after that trust that developer to control this process for both party's mutual financial advantage. More easily stated than done, I can guarantee you.

Final Thought

Both of these structures work and have for years. They are particularly popular now since the cost of land and the expense of construction products are so pricey. The magic is that these development ground leases, and joint ventures offer a cheaper way for a designer to manage and redevelop a piece of residential or commercial property. More economical in that the ground lease a developer pays the owner, or the profit the designer shares with a joint venture partner is either less, less risky or both, than if the developer had actually bought the land outright, which's an advantage. These are sophisticated transactions that demand advanced experts dealing with your behalf to keep you safe from the dangers intrinsic in any redevelopment of realty and guide you to the increased worth in your residential or commercial property that you look for.