Decide whether a project is real before the team gets expensive.
Most development losses are decided long before the first invoice — in the gap between a flattering pro forma and an unforgiving site. River's feasibility work closes that gap with construction realism and entitlement honesty from day one.
A full early-stage review, written to be acted on.
Each feasibility engagement produces a single decision document — not a slide deck — covering the inputs that determine whether the deal pencils, what would have to be true for it to work, and what the principal would do if it were their own capital.
- Site, zoning, and overlay review with jurisdiction-specific approval framing.
- Highest-and-best-use modeling across realistic product types and unit mixes.
- Three-case underwriting — downside, base, upside — with construction-cost realism.
- Entitlement timing, public-process risk, and approval-cost framing.
- Comparables review and absorption logic from a local-market lens.
- Clear go / no-go recommendation in the principal's voice.
Before the deposit, not after.
The best time for feasibility work is the moment a site looks interesting and before any non-refundable money is on the table. The second-best time is during the diligence window, before extending it.
If a deal is already under contract and the architect or civil engineer is already engaged, feasibility becomes confirmation rather than decision support — still useful, less leveraged.
From site address to decision document.
A typical River feasibility engagement runs 7–14 days depending on jurisdiction and product complexity.
1. Intake & scoping
Site identification, owner objectives, preliminary scope, and a quick first-pass screen for any obvious deal-killers before deeper work begins.
2. Research & modeling
Zoning, overlays, environmental, utilities, comps, demand framing, and a working three-case pro forma run through construction-aware assumptions.
3. Decision document
A direct written recommendation covering what works, what doesn't, what to renegotiate, and what to walk away from.
Feasibility is a discipline, not a deliverable.
Construction-aware
We model real hard costs, real sitework, and real impact-fee schedules — not generic per-square-foot assumptions copied from a market report.
Entitlement-honest
We treat approval timelines as a real variable. A nine-month rezone is not a footnote; it changes the deal, and we say so.
Principal-written
The decision document is written by the operator who would have to deliver the project, not by a junior analyst — so the language is direct and the conclusion is defensible.
Have a site we should review?
Send the address and the basic context. We'll confirm whether feasibility work is the right next step before any engagement.