Develop now
The development model includes acquisition, predevelopment, construction, financing and six unit closings.
Open development model ↗01 / THE INVESTMENT CASE
A Westside site.
Three investment paths.
1549 West 33rd Avenue
A six-home development hypothesis, tested against the economics of acquisition, delivery and exit.
Independent research case study · All amounts CAD
Working acquisition basis$4.00M
Site area14,489 sf
Development hypothesis6 homes
FSR / saleable efficiency1.00 / 85%
THESIS & CONDITIONS
Land value depends on what can be delivered.
The working case converts 14,489 sf of assumed FSR area into 12,316 sf of saleable inventory. Economics depend on the achievable unit mix, pricing, construction scope and capital committed through sellout.
The renovated existing residence offers a separate holding proposition. Listing materials describe accessible living space, a legal two-bedroom suite and caregiver accommodation. The caregiver space is not assumed to be a separate legal rental dwelling.
$4M is an acquisition scenario, not a verified current asking price. Density and floor areas remain subject to survey, design and planning confirmation. Rounded listing dimensions imply 14,500 sf; the model retains 14,489 sf.
STRATEGY COMPARISON
Develop now. Hold and resell. Hold and develop.
Hold and resell
Test whether resale appreciation covers acquisition costs, operating deficits and disposition expenses.
The calculation below is pretax, with interest-only debt and flat annual rent and expenses.
Hold and develop
Holding carry and entitlement expenditure precede a new development budget. Reprice future construction and sales; remove overlapping design and acquisition costs.
Not an integrated strategy return. The holding bridge below identifies incremental cash exposure only.
Holding & resale assumptions Expand / collapse
Acquisition closing costs: $40,000. Selling costs: 3%. PTT uses the same tiered screening formula as the development model. Financing fees, income tax, rental growth and major capital work are excluded. Rents are assumptions, not verified leases.
02 / DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
Underwrite the assumptions.
Monthly financing and six-unit receipts. Project economics, equity exposure and investor distributions remain distinct.
Base: $350/gross built sf; 50% soft/hard; 6 months predevelopment; 18 months construction; closings in months 24–29. Explicit contingency and extra servicing start at zero, pending scope reconciliation.
Project profit / pretax—
Peak net equity—
Equity IRR / entity tax deducted—
Loading the calculation ledger…
Methodology & controls ↗Capital profile Monthly debt, equity and retained cash
Closing debt is shown after repayments. Peak debt is recorded before repayments. Equity is cumulative contributions less distributions; retained cash stays in the project until final closing.
03 / COMPARABLE PROJECTS
Evidence with a defined purpose.
Product and pricing at Linden House. Budget structure at Lightwell. Neither is a substitute for a site-specific development estimate.
PRODUCT / ADVERTISED PRICING
Linden House
4450 Maple Crescent · Six residences
October 2026 sales sheet supplied for the research.
Prices exclude GST; no closed-sale evidence is implied.
A product reference for a six-home scheme.
Interior areas range from 1,593 to 2,266 sf. The mix, site layout and architectural specification provide a tangible comparison for a premium infill proposition.
- Total interior area
- 11,751 sf
- Aggregate asking price
- $14,794,100
- Weighted asking price
- $1,259/sf
Two indicated $25,000 incentives reduce aggregate consideration to $14,744,100, or $1,255/sf. Additional negotiation is unconfirmed.
| Home | Interior sf | Asking price | Asking $/sf |
|---|
DEVELOPER BUDGET PRECEDENT
Lightwell Developments
Fund III and the supplied fourplex illustration
Historical projections, not realized costs or returns.
2024 Fund III / two projects, 11 homes
481 West 17th Avenue: 6,338 sf lot, five homes. 6891 Laurel Street: 8,265 sf lot, six homes. Different layouts and unit sizes limit direct cost comparisons.
| Land | $7.00M |
| Hard construction | $4.70M |
| Soft costs | $1.65M |
| Financing | $1.85M |
| Total budget | $15.20M |
|---|---|
| Rounded projected net proceeds | $18.30M |
| Rounded projected profit | $3.10M |
2025 / single fourplex illustration
A separate cost precedent. Absolute budgets are not transplanted to the larger subject site.
| Land | $3.400M |
| Hard construction | $2.100M |
| Soft costs | $1.050M |
| Financing | $0.825M |
| Total budget | $7.375M |
|---|---|
| Projected revenue | $8.600M |
| Projected profit | $1.225M |
Reconciliation of the presentation figures Read analysis
$18.85M gross revenue less 3% equals $18.2845M, versus the deck's rounded $18.30M. Against $15.20M costs, this gives $3.0845M profit and 20.29% return on those costs; the rounded figures yield 20.39%.
The deck's separate “15% Return on Cost” label does not reconcile to those totals. Its advertised 39% annual investor return cannot be reproduced without the capital-call and distribution schedule. Neither figure is adopted as a WDM return assumption.
The 2025 illustration yields $1.225M / $7.375M = 16.61% profit on its displayed cost basis. The scope of sales costs must be checked before comparing it to WDM's all-in ROC.
04 / RESEARCH & SOURCES
The rationale behind the inputs.
Current calculation methodology, evidence boundaries and the underlying documents.
From site area to distributable cash.
The sequence is land and planning capacity; saleable product and pricing; complete delivery cost; monthly debt and equity; then allocation to capital providers.
Financing changes cash requirements and equity returns. It does not create additional sales revenue. Acquisition value should be tested against required returns and funding capacity, rather than positive profit alone.
01 / AREA
FSR area = lot × 1.00
Gross built = FSR area × gross-built factor
Saleable area = FSR area × efficiency
02 / REVENUE
Achieved price = benchmark × realization × (1 − negotiation)
Sellout = saleable area × achieved price
03 / PROFIT
Pretax profit = sellout − all development, financing and selling costs
All-in ROC = pretax profit ÷ cost including sales
04 / CAPITAL
Debt + equity fund monthly uses.
Closing proceeds repay debt.
Residual cash passes through the investor waterfall.
Current model methodology Research edition
Cost and area definitions
Hard costs use gross constructed area; sales use saleable area. The 1.00 gross-built factor and 85% efficiency are independent assumptions, pending measured drawings. Soft costs remain a percentage allowance. Scope additions are classified as fixed, area, time or sales driven.
Explicit contingency and incremental servicing default to zero. Confirm inclusions before adding reserves; zero does not establish that the exposure is covered. PMT, utilities, off-site work, elevators and premium specifications require scope reconciliation.
Municipal and tax treatment
The retained municipal scenario is FSR area × 0.09290304 × $296/m² (equivalent to 5% × $5,920/m²). It is not a parcel-specific fee assessment.
Revenue and costs exclude recoverable GST. GST/ITC timing and rental self-supply are not modelled. Entity tax is a flat percentage of positive project profit, reserved across closings; it is not an actual tax remittance forecast.
Debt, closing and equity ledger
Construction borrowing is constrained by the entered facility limit, eligible-cost LTC, minimum equity share, combined cost cap and completed-value cap. Soft-cost eligibility is explicit. Predevelopment costs begin before construction.
Interest uses opening debt plus half of current-month draws. Net unit receipts sweep construction debt, then land debt. Positive cash is retained until final closing. Peak debt is measured before repayment. Equity requirements beyond the entered commitment are shown as a funding gap.
Six equal-value units close on entered project months. Unit prices, contractual release prices, maturity, lender inspections, statutory holdbacks and a full cost-to-complete test remain outside the engine.
Returns and break-even
Monthly equity IRR is annualized. Investor preference accrues on unreturned contributed capital; optional catch-up and promote are illustrative terms. Investor tax reserves apply to profit distributions, not returned capital. Break-even price is re-solved with financing, including fixed sales additions. Ambiguous IRRs or outstanding final debt suppress the aggregate IRR.
Acquisition framework & verification priorities Read framework
Residual land value is the price supportable after complete delivery costs and the required developer return. Transfer costs, interest and borrowing constraints vary with land price, so an acquisition ceiling requires an iterative solution with a defined return hurdle and cash constraint. The current website does not present a solved maximum land bid.
Design & market
Verify capacity, measured area, unit mix and completed comparable sales. Asking prices inform calibration but do not establish realization.
Cost & funding
Reconcile a consolidated GC/QS scope, municipal obligations, utility works, contingency and written lender conditions.
Cash & exit
Review correlated delay, servicing and price downside. Confirm equity availability, tax working capital, release terms and remaining obligations.
DOCUMENTS & SOURCE RECORD
Supporting material.
Version reconciliation: the archived report predates the integrated six-closing ledger and still describes a disconnected waterfall. The current methodology above governs this website. Inventory refinancing remains a standalone sensitivity. The separate holding calculation is now included on The Project page. The original Lightwell decks and Linden sales sheet are summarized in the supplied report; separate original files are not included here.
City of Vancouver / multiplex housing ↗City of Vancouver / development levies ↗BC Hydro / service connections ↗British Columbia / property transfer tax ↗Linden House / floor plans ↗Lightwell / developer information ↗
Reference entry points, not current parcel-specific confirmations. Evidence reflects the supplied October 2026 research.