The honest question every developer and every lender asks about a development-stage ground lease. The answer is the same discipline construction lenders have used for decades on interest: reserve it, fund it at closing, release it on performance.
The sponsor gets full proceeds at closing instead of holdbacks. The leasehold lender underwrites a rent that cannot default during the ramp — which shows up directly in their debt yield comfort. And the ground lessor's income stream is protected without ever reaching for remedies. It is the cheapest insurance in the capital stack, and it is usually funded out of money we brought.
Milestones. A calendar rewards the passage of time; milestones reward the thing everyone actually wants — income showing up. Typical structure: staged releases as annualized NOI crosses agreed thresholds.
Sized to the gap between what the property earns today and what covers rent comfortably, with cushion for a slow ramp. On a true ground-up it often means the full rent through construction and lease-up, in the budget from day one.
It is funded from proceeds, and it is still your money working inside your deal — released back to you as the building performs, instead of a smaller check with no path to more.
Tell us where the income is today and where the proforma takes it. We will show you the reserve that makes the rent, the lender, and the proceeds all work.
Email us the property