CSMB Land Development Partners Sister Companies
ENGINEERING & ARCHITECTURE
Civil Design & Engineering, Inc.
Founded 1996. Licensed in more than 30 states. Civil engineering, architecture, and project management. Your Coconino County land development specialists.
ENGINEERING & SURVEYING
Mogollon Engineering & Surveying, Inc.
Serving northern Arizona since 1999. More than 400 completed projects in Flagstaff, Arizona. Civil engineering and land surveying. Your City of Flagstaff land development specialists.
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES
CD&E2
Your construction administration and construction inspection specialists.
THE APPROACH
From raw land to market-ready.
WHOLE PROJECT
Feasibility through final sale
We start with a feasibility analysis and an honest read on whether the deal works, and we stay through entitlement, financing, design, construction, sale, and closeout. Nothing gets handed off to a firm that has never seen the site.
We finance the development process
The hardest money in any land deal is the first money — the years of soft costs spent before a single improvement exists. On partnership projects CSMB carries those costs, so you are not funding entitlement out of savings and hoping it lands. We also arrange project financing and construction debt, and walk the loan process with you from term sheet to funding.
Entitlement raises value before a shovel moves
Land that is rezoned, platted, and approved is worth substantially more than the same acreage raw — and that gain happens on paper, through the public process, before any physical improvement is built. Entitlement is where the leverage in a land deal lives, and it is the phase we run hardest.
Designed for what the land is actually worth
We plan to highest and best use, not to whatever is easiest to draw. Working with our appraisal partners, we test densities, product types, and mixes against the market before the concept plan is set, so the entitlement you pursue is the one that maximizes value.
YOUR RISK, LOWERED
Most landowners hire a developer, a planner, an engineer, a surveyor, an architect, an attorney, an appraiser, and a real estate broker, then write checks for years before anyone knows whether the project pencils.
We do it the other way. CSMB handles the project end to end: feasibility and due diligence, entitlement, financing, design, construction, and the eventual sale. Engineering, architecture, and survey are held in-house through Civil Design & Engineering and Mogollon Engineering & Surveying. One team, one schedule, one point of accountability.
We are also able to fund the development process ourselves. Soft costs, consultants, permits, legal, and appraisals are carried by CSMB rather than by the landowner, and repaid out of the project's success instead of out of your pocket.
VALUE FIRST
HIGHEST AND BEST
STRUCTURE
Tailored to the support you need
Some landowners want a fee-based manager and nothing more. Some want us to fund the entire soft-cost load. Some want a full joint venture through vertical construction. We structure the partnership around how much financial support the project needs and how much risk you want to keep.
TRANSPARENCY
You see the numbers before you commit
Every partnership starts with a pro forma we prepare and walk you through: costs, phasing, absorption, financing, and what you stand to make under each structure. If the answer is not good enough, you will know that at the beginning instead of at the end.
WHERE VALUE IS CREATED
Land Entitlement Value Process
RAW LAND
AS IT SITS TODAY · BASELINE ACREAGE VALUE
ENTITLED LAND
REZONED · PLATTED · APPROVED · SIGNIFICANT VALUE LIFT
MARKET-READY LAND
READY TO BUILD, SELL, OR LEASE · MAXIMUM ASSET VALUE
Illustrative only. Actual value at each stage depends on the property, the market, and the approvals obtained, and is established by appraisal.
THE PROCESS
Seven phases, one team, no gaps.
Every service below is delivered by CSMB or by our partner firms. The tags show who does what.
Feasibility
Before anyone spends real money, we provide a desktop review: zoning, utilities, access, rough yield. This desktop review is quick and there is no charge for it, and most properties stop here. If it passes, we propose a fixed-fee feasibility study that answers the real question, does the deal pencil, in writing. If the study leads to a partnership with CSMB, the fee is credited back.
PHASE 01
CSMB
Free desktop review · Fixed-fee feasibility study (credited back on partnership projects) · Yield and density studies · Highest-and-best-use analysis with independent licensed appraisers · Development budget · Project pro forma showing what the landowner stands to make · Deal structuring
CD&E
Site constraints analysis · Utility availability and capacity review · Access and topographic assessment · Preliminary drainage screening
Due diligence & land planning
Everything that has to be known before a line is drawn — surveyed, researched, and coordinated by people who work down the hall from each other.
PHASE 02
MES
ALTA survey, Boundary survey, records/title research · Topographic survey · Tree survey
CD&E
Concept plan and preliminary development plan · Preliminary utility concepts · Preliminary drainage concepts · Geotechnical, traffic, environmental and cultural resource analysis · Landscape architecture coordination
CSMB
Title report and title updates · Appraisal coordination (licensed appraiser) and market research · Consultant procurement
Entitlement & public process
The phase that creates the most value for the least dirt moved. Rezoning, plat approval, and a defensible record built to survive a hearing room.
PHASE 03
CD&E
Rezoning strategy and code interpretation · Rezoning exhibits, maps and supporting documentation · Pre-application meetings · Technical support through Planning Commission and Council
CSMB
Entitlement strategy and schedule · Agency and staff coordination · Neighborhood and community meeting support · Public hearing presentation · Overall project management
Capital & structure
We fund development costs on partnership projects that pass feasibility and help you line up the rest. You should never have to write the first big check to find out whether your land works.
PHASE 04
CSMB
Pro forma, absorption and phasing models · Development cash-flow modeling · CSMB-funded soft costs on partnership projects · Lender introductions and loan application support · On CSMB partnership projects: investment package preparation and capital raising
Design & platting
Construction-ready documents produced under one roof, so a plat comment and a grading revision do not become two separate schedules.
PHASE 05
CD&E
Roadway alignment and grading · Stormwater conveyance, detention and retention · Hydrologic and hydraulic analysis and drainage report · Water distribution and sanitary sewer design · On-site wastewater feasibility and design · Erosion control and SWPPP · Dry utility corridor planning · ADA sidewalks and pedestrian facilities · Fire access and turning templates · In-house architecture · Engineer's opinion of probable cost
MES
Preliminary plat · Final plat · Easement exhibits and legal descriptions
CSMB
Permit and plan review submittals · Agency comment tracking through approval
Construction
Three roles, three parties, no overlap: we coordinate the project as owner's representative, CD&E and MES administer the engineered work, and the contractor manages its own crews. All construction is performed by licensed Arizona contractors under direct contract with the owner.
PHASE 06
CSMB
Bid procurement and bid normalization · Contractor selection support · Master schedule and coordination · Invoice and draw administration
CD&E
Construction administration and observation · Submittal and RFI review · Schedule review, punch lists and reporting
MES
Construction staking and layout · As-built survey
Sales, community & closeout
Cradle to grave means we are still here when the project goes to market. Marketing, brokerage and closing are handled with our licensed brokerage partner.
PHASE 07
CSMB
ADRE public report processing with the title company · CC&Rs and HOA formation (prepared by counsel, coordinated by CSMB) · Design review guidelines and architectural review committee · Project website, renderings and entry monument design
Licensed brokerage partner
Interest list development · Marketing program and collateral · Listing and lot sales · Buyer and builder representation · Deal brokerage and closing coordination
CD&E
·MES
As-builts · Warranty period administration
FOR LANDOWNERS
You own the land. We'll carry the hard part.
Good land across northern Arizona sits still because entitling and developing it is a full-time job with a multi-year horizon, real upfront cash, and a real chance of failure. We take that on, and on partnership projects we structure it so we only do well if you do.
Every partnership is structured around the specific property, the market, and how much of the process you want to carry yourself. That is what the first conversation and the first pro forma are for.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Arizona Land.
Unentitled or under-used land where approvals create value.
Owners who want to maximize value.
Arizona, with a focus on Flagstaff and the communities around it. That is where our team, our relationships, and our track record are.
Raw acreage, oversized lots, and tired commercial or industrial parcels in and around Flagstaff and Coconino County that need a rezone, subdivision, or site plan approval to reach their highest and best use. That approval work is what our team does in house, and it is where most of the value is made before a shovel hits the ground.
Selling raw land is the fastest way to cash out, and usually the most expensive. A buyer pays for what the ground is today, not what it can become, and the difference goes to whoever does the entitlement work after closing. A rezone, an approved subdivision plat, or a site plan approval can multiply what a parcel is worth before a single yard of dirt is moved.
If your property does not fit that list, the free screen is still the right first step. We will tell you quickly, and if a standalone engineering, survey, or feasibility engagement makes more sense, we will point you to the right people at CD&E or MES.
Two projects on the boards right now.
IN ENTITLEMENT
FLAGSTAFF · COCONINO COUNTY
A 49-lot residential subdivision on the site of the historic Arizona Mountain Inn, set in ponderosa forest inside the City of Flagstaff.
LOTS
49
SETTING
Ponderosa forest
ON THE BOARDS
IN ENTITLEMENT
FLAGSTAFF · COCONINO COUNTY
A 201-lot single-family community on 201 acres along Woody Mountain Road, planned around preserved open space and the Sinclair Wash corridor.
ACRES
201
LOTS
201
WHY WE DO THIS
We're building the town our kids
are going to live in.
CSMB is owned and operated by two Flagstaff families who believe that development is more than just square footage and spreadsheets. It's the physical outcome of what a community values, and we work to make sure those outcomes are things our neighbors are proud to live next to.
Say the hard thing early
We don't hide bad news. If a project cost is spiking or a layout isn't working, we put it on the table immediately so we can fix it while there is still time.
Skin in the game
We are not fee-only managers. We invest our own capital and time alongside the landowners we represent, which means we win when the project wins.
Build it to last
We live here. We drive past these projects every day. We build for the long-term health of Northern Arizona communities, not for a quick exit.
Tell us about the land.
We screen properties for free to see if a partnership makes sense. Tell us where the ground is, what you know about it, and what you’re hoping to achieve. We usually have an honest read on the deal within 48 hours.
CSMB Land Development Partners, LLC
618 E. Route 66
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
928.522.9287
info@csmbpartners.com
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