1 Development Ground Leases and Joint Ventures - a Guide For Owners
Kelley Innes edited this page 2025-06-16 02:39:48 +08:00

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If you own real estate in an up-and-coming area or own residential or commercial property that might be redeveloped into a "greater and much better use", then you've pertained to the best place! This short article will assist you sum up and ideally debunk these two approaches of enhancing a piece of property while getting involved handsomely in the benefit.

The Development Ground Lease
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The Development Ground Lease is a contract, generally varying from 49 years to 150 years, where the owner transfers all the advantages and burdens of ownership (fancy legalese for future revenues and costs!) to a developer in exchange for a regular monthly or quarterly ground lease payment that will vary from 5%-6% of the reasonable market price of the residential or commercial property. It enables the owner to take pleasure in a great return on the value of its residential or commercial property without needing to offer it and doesn't require the owner itself to take on the incredible threat and issue of building a brand-new building and finding renters to inhabit the new structure, abilities which many genuine estate owners just do not have or desire to discover. You might have also heard that ground lease rents are "triple internet" which means that the owner sustains no charges of operating of the residential or commercial property (other than income tax on the gotten rent) and gets to keep the complete "net" return of the worked out rent payments. All real! Put another way, throughout the term of the ground lease, the developer/ground lease occupant, takes on all obligation genuine estate taxes, building and construction costs, obtaining expenses, repairs and maintenance, and all running expenses of the dirt and the new structure to be constructed on it. Sounds quite great right. There's more!

This ground lease structure also enables the owner to take pleasure in an affordable return on the present worth of its residential or commercial property WITHOUT needing to sell it, WITHOUT paying capital gains tax and, under current law, WITH a tax basis step-up (which minimizes the quantity of gain the owner would eventually pay tax on) when the owner passes away and ownership of the residential or commercial property is moved to its successors. All you offer up is control of the residential or commercial property for the term of the lease and a greater involvement in the revenues originated from the new structure, however without most of the threat that goes with building and operating a new building. More on threats later on.

To make the offer sweeter, the majority of ground leases are structured with periodic boosts in the ground lease to protect against inflation and also have reasonable market price ground rent "resets" every 20 or two years, so that the owner gets to enjoy that 5%-6% return on the future, ideally increased worth of the residential or commercial property.

Another positive quality of an advancement ground lease is that when the new structure has actually been built and rented up, the property manager's ownership of the residential or commercial property including the rental stream from the ground lease is a sellable and financeable interest in realty. At the exact same time, the developer's rental stream from operating the residential or commercial property is also sellable and financeable, and if the lease is drafted appropriately, either can be sold or funded without danger to the other party's interest in their residential or commercial property. That is, the owner can borrow money versus the value of the ground leas paid by the developer without affecting the designer's ability to finance the building, and vice versa.

So, what are the disadvantages, you may ask. Well first, the owner quits all control and all prospective earnings to be originated from building and operating a brand-new building for in between 49 and 150 years in exchange for the security of minimal ground lease. Second, there is threat. It is predominantly front-loaded in the lease term, however the risk is genuine. The minute you transfer your residential or commercial property to the designer and the old structure gets destroyed, the residential or commercial property no longer is leasable and will not be generating any profits. That will last for 2-3 years up until the new building is built and completely tenanted. If the designer stops working to develop the structure or stops halfway, the owner can get the residential or commercial property back by cancelling the lease, but with a partially constructed structure on it that produces no income and even worse, will cost millions to end up and lease up. That's why you should make absolutely sure that whoever you rent the residential or commercial property to is a competent and skilled builder who has the monetary wherewithal to both pay the ground rent and finish the building and construction of the structure. Complicated legal and business services to offer security versus these dangers are beyond the scope of this short article, however they exist and require that you discover the ideal business consultants and legal counsel.

The Development Joint Venture

Not pleased with a boring, coupon-clipping, long-term ground lease with minimal participation and restricted upside? Do you wish to utilize your ownership of an undeveloped or underdeveloped piece of residential or commercial property into an amazing, new, larger and much better investment? Then perhaps a development joint venture is for you. In an advancement joint venture, the owner contributes ownership of the residential or commercial property to a limited liability business whose owners (members) are the owner and the developer. The owner trades its ownership of the land in exchange for a portion ownership in the joint endeavor, which percentage is identified by dividing the reasonable market value of the land by the total task expense of the new building. So, for example, if the value of the land is $ 3million and it will cost $21 million to develop the brand-new structure and lease it up, the owner will be credited with a 12.5% ($3mm divided by $24mm) interest in the entity that owns the brand-new building and will take part in 12.5% of the operating profits, any refinancing proceeds, and the revenue on sale.

There is no earnings tax or state and local 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 offered to the owner of the 12.5% joint endeavor interest upon death. Putting the joint endeavor together raises various questions that should be negotiated and solved. For instance: 1) if more cash is needed to finish the building than was originally budgeted, who is responsible to come up with the extra funds? 2) does the owner get its $3mm dollars returned initially (a priority circulation) or do all dollars come out 12.5%:87.5% (professional rata)? 3) does the owner get a guaranteed return on its $3mm investment (a preference payment)? 4) who gets to manage the daily organization decisions? or major choices 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 build condominiums, can the members take their earnings out by getting ownership of specific homes or retail areas instead of cash? There is a lot to unload in putting a strong and reasonable joint endeavor arrangement together.

And then there is a danger analysis to be done here too. In the advancement joint endeavor, the now-former residential or commercial property owner no longer owns or manages the dirt. The owner has obtained a 12.5% MINORITY interest in the operation, albeit a larger task than before. The risk of a failure of the project does not just lead to the termination of the ground lease, it might lead to a foreclosure and perhaps overall loss of the residential or commercial property. And then there is the possibility that the market for the new structure isn't as strong as and the brand-new structure doesn't generate the level of rental income that was expected. Conversely, the structure 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 goes beyond 100% of the value of the undeveloped parcel. The taking of these dangers can be significantly decreased by picking the exact same competent, experience and financially strong developer partner and if the expected advantages are big enough, a well-prepared residential or commercial property owner would be more than justified to handle those dangers.

What's an Owner to Do?

My very first piece of guidance to anybody considering the redevelopment of their residential or commercial property is to surround themselves with experienced specialists. Brokers who comprehend advancement, accounting professionals and other monetary consultants, development specialists who will deal with behalf of an owner and obviously, great skilled legal counsel. My 2nd piece of guidance is to utilize those specialists to determine the financial, market and legal characteristics of the prospective deal. The dollars and the deal capacity will drive the decision to establish or not, and the structure. My third piece of guidance to my customers is to be true to themselves and try to come to a truthful realization about the level of danger they will be willing to take, their ability to discover the best designer partner and then trust that designer to manage this procedure for both party's shared financial benefit. More easily stated than done, I can ensure you.

Final Thought

Both of these structures work and have for years. They are especially popular now because the expense of land and the expense of construction materials are so costly. The magic is that these development ground leases, and joint ventures offer a cheaper method for a developer to manage and redevelop a piece of residential or commercial property. More economical in that the ground rent a designer pays the owner, or the revenue the developer shares with a joint endeavor partner is either less, less risky or both, than if the developer had actually bought the land outright, and that's a great thing. These are advanced transactions that demand sophisticated specialists working on your behalf to keep you safe from the risks intrinsic in any redevelopment of real estate and guide you to the increased worth in your residential or commercial property that you seek.