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CRECO Services · Texas Commercial Real Estate

Property Development

Concept-to-stabilization development advisory for Texas commercial real estate. Site selection, feasibility, entitlements, design and construction coordination, and lease-up.

Texas commercial real estate development is a long, capital-intensive game with dozens of fail points along the way: site selection mistakes, entitlement delays, construction cost overruns, leasing risk, capital stack misalignment. Most owners who attempt development without an experienced advisor learn expensive lessons.

CRECO's development practice provides advisory and coordination services across the full development lifecycle. We work with first-time developers (often owner-operators expanding their own businesses) and sophisticated repeat developers who need expanded capacity. We are not a general contractor or design firm — we are the owner's advocate sitting alongside the GC, architect, lender, and city, making sure the project hits pro forma.

Our Texas development experience spans retail centers, industrial parks, mixed-use, flex, and adaptive reuse. We have helped clients deliver projects in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, DFW, and the Hill Country. The playbook is consistent: rigorous site selection, conservative pro forma, fast entitlements, controlled construction costs, and pre-leasing to de-risk the lease-up.

Service Scope

What's Included

Every property development engagement includes the full scope of services below — calibrated to the specifics of your assignment.

  • Site identification and acquisition advisory across Texas
  • Highest and best use analysis for raw or improved land parcels
  • Pro forma development modeling: development cost, NOI projection, exit value, IRR, equity-multiple
  • Zoning, entitlement, and platting coordination with city planning departments
  • Capital stack structuring: senior debt, mezzanine, equity, ground lease alternatives
  • Architect and engineer selection and contract negotiation
  • GC bid management and construction contract review
  • Construction monitoring and draw oversight
  • Lease-up campaign during construction (pre-leasing reduces risk and improves financing)

Our Process

How a Property Development engagement works

01

Site & Concept

We identify candidate sites or evaluate one you already control. Highest and best use analysis. Submarket comp study to validate the concept.

02

Feasibility

Detailed pro forma model: total development cost, projected stabilized NOI, exit cap rate, IRR/multiple, sensitivity tables. We build to your equity return target.

03

Entitlements & Design

Coordinate zoning approvals, platting, utility commitments. Architect/engineer selection and design coordination through permit set.

04

Capital & Construction

Capital stack lined up. GC bid process, contract negotiation, construction monitoring. Draw approvals and budget tracking through certificate of occupancy.

05

Lease-up & Stabilization

Pre-leasing campaign starts during construction. Stabilization tracked vs pro forma. Either hold for cash flow or position for sale once stabilized — your call.

Who This Is For

Use Cases

Owner-user expansion

You operate a Texas business and want to develop your own building (vs continued leasing). Often eligible for SBA 504 financing.

Land you already own

You own raw or under-improved land in a Texas growth corridor and want to maximize value through development.

Build-to-suit

A specific tenant has committed to lease a custom-built building. We deliver the project to spec, on time, on budget.

Spec retail or industrial

Speculative development of retail centers or industrial buildings in growing Texas submarkets — relying on lease-up confidence to justify the build.

People Also Ask

Property Development FAQ

How much does CRECO charge for development advisory?+
Development advisory engagements are typically structured as a project fee (1-3% of total development cost) plus performance-based equity participation on larger projects. Smaller projects are often hourly or fixed-fee for specific deliverables (site selection, pro forma, entitlement coordination). We'll scope the engagement to match your project size and complexity.
Do you take equity positions in projects?+
Sometimes. On select projects where we have strong conviction and the owner wants partner-level alignment, CRECO will take a small equity position (typically 5-20%) alongside the lead developer. This is rare and project-specific — most engagements are fee-for-service.
Can you help with SBA 504 owner-user development?+
Yes. SBA 504 is a powerful financing tool for owner-occupied development — up to 90% LTC at long amortization with below-market fixed rate. We have closed multiple Texas SBA 504 development projects and coordinate with eligible CDC lenders, the SBA processor, and the owner-user's primary bank.
How long does a Texas commercial development take?+
Timelines vary widely by complexity. Simple retail or industrial pad with existing zoning: 12-18 months from acquisition to certificate of occupancy. Mixed-use or rezone-required: 24-36 months. Major adaptive reuse or large-scale: 36-60 months. Pre-leasing and lease-up adds another 6-18 months to stabilization. Your IRR is highly sensitive to schedule — we obsess over compressing timelines.
Do you develop your own projects?+
CRECO is primarily an advisory and brokerage firm — our principals occasionally develop or co-invest in select Texas projects, but we are not a vertically-integrated developer. The advantage to you: we are aligned with your interests, not pushing our own pipeline.

Explore More

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Leasing & Sales

Owner-side leasing and sales across retail, industrial, office, flex, and land. Marketing, negotiation, diligence to close.

Property Management

Day-to-day operations and tenant relations for commercial assets — built for owners with multiple Texas properties.

Talk to a CRECO principal

No-pressure consultation. We'll listen first and recommend an approach — even if that means pointing you somewhere else.

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