Mixed-Use Development
Pro Forma Advisors’ principals provide economic planning support for traditional land use development including urban mixed-use, large scale master plans, retail, office, residential and other site-specific development. Common services include market reconnaissance, financial feasibility analysis, program right-sizing, financial structuring scenarios, investor communications, and negotiation support. Pro Forma Advisors’ mixed-use development practice is heavily oriented to representing public agencies and providing economic planning support to planning design firms in California and the western U.S. region.
Project Experience
Location: Page, Arizona
Client: Fuel Development LLC / Antelope Canyon Navajo Tours
Planning Services: Market Feasibility, Impact Study, Grant Support
Scale: 10 acres
Development Budget: US$30 million
Antelope Canyon is an iconic cultural landmark located in the Navajo Nation just outside the City of Page, Arizona. The Client, a Navajo family company offering guided tours through the slot canyons, was considering new development to increase tourism and awareness to their slot canyon site in competition with additional family concession operations. The proposed development was sited on approximately 10 acres of land near the tour entrance on State Route 98. The initial planned use was a multi-purpose visitor center, which would provide a central point of attraction for tourists to enter the property. Additional uses evaluated included accommodations, signature restaurant, retail, C-Store, and themed excursions.
Pro Forma Advisors conducted a market and financial analysis of the Project, including research of the market context for the proposed uses, review of available markets, market characteristics, competitive facilities, and relevant comparable facilities. Pro Forma Advisors has also examined the Project Site as it relates to the development of other complementary uses supported by market demand and feasible from the financial perspective.
Location: Colton, California
Client: City of Colton and Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)
Planning Services: Market Feasibility, Development Strategy, Urban Design Economic Support
Scale: 110 acres
Development Budget: US$TBD
The South Colton Livable Corridor Plan was developed via a three-phase process (analysis, alternatives, and preferred plan) completed over nine months. The plan identifies amenities and improvements, suggests new uses for vacant and underutilized parcels, and recommends updates to land use policies and development regulations cognizant of the unique relationship that the community has with the public realm and landscape of their neighborhood. Additionally, the plan ensures that development strategies are grounded in rigorous market analysis. The plan was recognized by the American Planning Association’s Inland Empire section for an award in Urban Design.
Location: Diamond Bar, California
Client: City of Diamond Bar
Planning Services: Market Feasibility, Development Strategy
The City of Diamond Bar first retained partners of Pro Forma Advisors to determine the highest and best economic use of a 4-acre former Honda Dealership site that is proximate to a large future planned office and entertainment development in the City of Industry. The team then tested the financial feasibility of the proposed development program to determine if the expected hotel land use was privately feasible or would require municipal assistance. The City of Diamond used the findings as the basis to update the site’s zoning code to facilitate development of the expected highest and best use. In a subsequent assignment, Pro Forma Advisors provided economic analysis to guide long-term planning for commercial and residential land uses in the City’s General Plan Update. As part of the long-term planning assignment a fiscal and financial analysis was conducted to ensure that the planned long-term development was feasible from both the private and public perspective.