Investment Opportunity - entitlement/change of use (Agriculture)

[David J Carciere]

Hello BP

*Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move if needed*

Is there any interest in the forum’s on an entitlement/change of use opportunity within the agricultural Real Estate space? I previously marketed a dairy for sale in Sonoma County which is now primed to be developed to vineyard. I’m no longer involved on the sell-side, but I know the ranch very well and think it provides a unique and potentially fairly lucrative opportunity.

The quick backstory: as currently constituted the ranch is too large for any single winery to acquire and develop to vineyard – however, the ranch can be subdivided into 3 parcels which would make (each piece) the ideal size for a handful of world-class Sonoma and Napa wine-producers. I have one very well-known Napa winery who would like to quarterback the project to assist/advise on the subdivision and (vineyard) permitting of the site and subsequently buy one of the 3 newly created parcels.

In addition to the lead winery, I have an engineer who can process the subdivision and vineyard permits. Additional value add improvements would be to develop enough water for the ranch to support the 3 newly created turn-key vineyard sites.

The ranch is located in the hills of western Sonoma County, premium Pinot Noir land. It includes 212 gross acres, approximately 110 of which is suitable for vineyard development. It also includes 5 modest residences. I think the ranch would need to get bought in the $7.0 - $8.0mm range to optimize the return, on top of the acquisition there’d be $500k - $1.0mm in entitlements (subdivision, vineyard permitting) and infrastructure (water and roads) to make the 3 pieces turn-key and return the highest value. The turn-around period would likely be 2 years, based on the engineer’s expectation, and I believe the return could be 50% or more.

I have all kinds of background docs, financials, comps, but knowing this is probably outside the box in a lot of ways just wanted to see if there was any interest in such a project. If anyone has interest, I’m happy to fill in and send along additional info.

Thanks for reading!

David