An independent Commercial Land Highest & Best Use Study evaluating a 8.343-acre commercial assemblage in Eustis, Florida.
EUSTIS, Florida — Wert-Berater, Inc., an independent feasibility study consulting firm serving lenders and government agencies since 1998, has completed a Commercial Land Highest & Best Use Study in Eustis, Lake County, Florida.
Wert-Berater served as independent feasibility consultant to the ownership and its advisors. Party names are withheld consistent with the confidential nature of underwriting and capital-advisory work; figures represent the project as evaluated at the study date.
Highest and best use analysis of an 8.343-acre, 363,429-square-foot commercial assemblage fronting N State Road 19 in Eustis, Lake County — a site whose developable footprint is defined by its constraints: 6.054 upland acres suitable for development, two wetland areas totaling approximately 2.3 acres (1.869 and 0.420 acres), and a portion lying within FEMA Flood Zone AE, producing a net buildable envelope estimated at 4.5 to 4.8 acres, or roughly 195,000 square feet after parking and stormwater requirements.
Each candidate use — medical office, flex space, bank branch, self-storage, urgent care, grocery, and combinations — was run through discounted cash flow modeling with residual land value calculation, terminal value discounting, entrepreneurial profit expectations, and submarket rent evidence averaging approximately $24.70 per square foot. Medical office and flex space emerged as the strongest single uses, bank branches as stabilizers, storage and urgent care as feasible but lower-productivity, and grocery as unsupportable on residual land value as a primary format.
Twenty single-use scenarios were costed in the feasibility ranking table at total costs of $5,550,000 to $7,550,000 — the highest and best use emerging not from any one of them but from the phased mixed program: Phase 1 delivers the flex space and bank pad for early income and equity recycling at roughly 65% loan-to-cost with a 1.30x DSCR sizing constraint, and Phase 2 delivers the medical office once tenants are secured. Each scenario carried site acquisition, preparation, hard and soft costs, and a twelve percent entrepreneurial profit, so the residual land values compare on a consistent, financeable basis.
Constrained-site HBU work is subtraction before addition: wetlands and the Zone AE floodplain had to be carved out and stormwater compliance engineered before any program could be sized, and only a subset of uses that achieve positive residual land value also produce returns above market expectations — the study’s ranking framework was built to find that intersection. The conclusion is a defensible, supported program identification rather than a single-use bet.
Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent feasibility study consulting firm founded in 1998, providing lender- and agency-facing feasibility studies, highest-and-best-use analyses, and capital-advisory support. The firm has completed 4,000+ engagements across all 50 states and internationally, evaluating over $41.2 billion in project value for SBA, USDA, EB-5, conventional, and institutional financing decisions. In every engagement, fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the applicable agency.
Media contact: Donald Safranek, MSc, President, Wert-Berater, Inc. — +1 310-857-2443 ext. 800. Press inquiries only; client, lender, and property identities remain confidential.
Assignments on undeveloped commercial parcels are handled through our land feasibility study practice.
President, Wert-Berater, Inc. — independent feasibility study consultants since 1998. 4,000+ engagements completed across all 50 states and internationally, evaluating $41.2 billion in project value for SBA, USDA, EB-5, conventional, and institutional financing decisions. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and agency in every engagement.
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Schedule a ConversationIndependent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements, $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. Standard delivery in 10 to 15 business days. Fiduciary duty to the lender and agency.
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Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.