Entitlement & Zoning Advisory Services

In commercial real estate, great projects don’t fail because of a missing rendering—they fail because entitlements, zoning, and approvals were misunderstood, sequenced poorly, or politically mismanaged.

Height limits, FAR, use restrictions, overlays, special districts, community conditions, concurrency, traffic, utilities, and environmental reviews all sit between your site and your business plan. Timelines slip, carrying costs rise, and the “simple” approval path becomes a multi-year process.

HSE’s entitlement consulting services and zoning advisory are built to prevent that outcome.

We partner with developers, landowners, investors, lenders, corporates, and public agencies to design and execute entitlement and zoning strategies that are aligned with your capital plan, schedule, and risk tolerance—not just the drawings. Led by Jeffrey S. Davis, RA, who has overseen complex urban, mixed-use, and institutional developments across the country, our team brings together land use planning, development management, and program controls into a coherent owner-side advisory platform.

Land Use and Entitlement Strategy

Every successful entitlement effort starts with a clear understanding of what you can build, what you should build, and what the approval environment will realistically support.

Our entitlement consulting services focus first on strategy:

• Interpreting base zoning, overlays, special districts, and comprehensive plans
• Identifying by-right scenarios versus discretionary approvals
• Evaluating height, density, FAR, use mix, parking, and open space requirements
• Clarifying which agencies, boards, and stakeholders control key approvals
• Aligning entitlement potential with your market positioning and pro forma

We then map that understanding back to your development program and capital targets, showing where entitlements support your business plan—and where they do not.

Entitlement Pathway Analysis and Scheduling

Entitlements are not just a legal or planning exercise; they are a critical path schedule that controls when you can invest, build, and open.

HSE provides entitlement pathway analysis real estate that includes:

• Step-by-step mapping of applications, hearings, staff reviews, and appeals
• Identification of dependencies, gating items, and critical meetings
• Integration of the entitlement sequence into pre-development and construction schedules
• Scenario views for fast-track options, phased approvals, and alternative pathways

Because we are also development managers and scheduling specialists, our entitlement plans are time-aware and capital-aware, not theoretical.

Stakeholder, Community, and Political Interface

For many projects, the technical entitlement path is only half the story. The other half is community, political, and institutional dynamics.

We help you:

• Map stakeholders, community groups, and institutional interests
• Understand political risk, appetite, and priorities
• Craft positioning and narratives that speak to public objectives as well as private returns
• Structure engagement strategies, meetings, and presentations that support approvals
• Anticipate and address concerns before they become formal objections

Our role is not to replace your land use attorney or public affairs team, but to ensure entitlement and zoning strategy reflects real-world community and political context.

Zoning Advisory and Approvals Support

Zoning Feasibility and Capacity Studies

Before you commit to a site or a major redesign, you need a clear view of what the zoning framework will allow and at what cost in time and risk.

Our zoning advisory services include:

• Zoning feasibility study real estate for commercial, mixed-use, industrial, hospitality, and institutional projects
• Analysis of maximum allowable density, envelope, and use mix under existing regulations
• Identification of non-conformities, legal non-complying conditions, and grandfathered rights
• Evaluation of parking, access, loading, signage, and ancillary use requirements

These studies become the backbone of your site selection, pre-development planning, and highest-and-best-use analysis.

Zoning Variances, Rezoning, and Conditional Uses

Many of the most valuable projects live in the gray space between by-right development and full rezoning. We help you navigate that space.

Our team supports:

• Zoning variance consulting for height, setbacks, FAR, parking, and other dimensional relief
• Rezoning consulting services when a change in district or use is required
• Applications for conditional uses, special permits, overlays, and planned development districts
• Coordination with your legal and design teams to balance design ambition, approvability, and risk

The objective is to secure the minimum necessary relief to achieve your business plan while managing political and timeline risk.

Permitting Coordination and Compliance Review

Entitlements and zoning decisions must ultimately translate into permits and buildable approvals.

We provide permitting and zoning consulting that includes:

• Coordination between planning, zoning, building, transportation, utilities, and environmental agencies
• Review of site plans, building plans, and applications for consistency with approvals
• Tracking of conditions of approval so they are fully incorporated into design, contracts, and operations
• Early identification of permitting bottlenecks that could impact schedule and costs

Our zoning approval consulting is designed to keep the approvals-to-permits handoff smooth, documented, and aligned with your schedule.

Entitlement & Zoning Advisory by Client Type

• Developers & Co-GPs
  We build the entitlement path, pressure-test feasibility, and sequence approvals with design and option periods—so you can raise capital and execute.
• Landowners & Long-Term Holders
  We tell you what you can entitle, how long it takes, what it’s worth, and whether you should entitle, sell, or JV—without building an internal team.
• Investors & Lenders
  We provide an independent entitlement/zoning risk view tied to schedule and capital structure—so underwriting, covenants, and milestones are based on a real path to approvals.
• Municipalities & Public–Private Partners
  We evaluate proposals and design approval/RFP frameworks that advance policy goals, attract quality partners, and reduce execution risk.

Our Entitlement and Zoning Advisory Process

#1.Site and Zoning Baseline Assessment

Every engagement starts with a clear baseline:

• Collection and review of zoning maps, code sections, overlays, plans, and prior approvals
• Clarification of existing legal status of structures and uses
• Identification of constraints, opportunities, and open questions requiring agency confirmation

This baseline becomes the common reference point for your internal and external teams.

#2.Scenario Planning and Risk Assessment

Next, we explore what is possible and what is prudent:

• Testing multiple entitlement and zoning scenarios—by-right, modified, and ambitious
• Evaluating time, risk, and capital implications for each scenario
• Identifying critical approvals, political friction points, and likely conditions
• Integrating entitlement and zoning scenarios with pre-development planning and feasibility

This is where development feasibility and entitlements come together in a structured decision framework.

#3.Strategy Execution, Hearings, and Approvals

Finally, we help you execute the chosen strategy:

• Coordinating with your attorneys, planners, architects, engineers, and public affairs teams
• Supporting preparation of submittals, presentations, visuals, and scheduling
• Tracking conditions, milestones, and agency feedback as the process unfolds
• Updating risk, schedule, and capital plans as new information emerges

We remain involved through key hearings, negotiations, and approvals, ensuring the strategy we helped design is faithfully executed and continuously managed.

Frequently Asked Questions About Real Estate Risk Advisory Services

Give Us a Call Today!

If you’re evaluating a commercial acquisition, recapitalization, development, or land deal, you don’t need another generic report—you need a clear, defensible view of entitlement and zoning risk.

Share the site and business plan with HSE, and we’ll validate what is realistically approvable, map the approval pathway and schedule, identify key political and stakeholder risks, and translate findings into actionable go/no-go guidance, pricing and structuring considerations, and decision-ready documentation for investment committees, lenders, and internal stakeholders.