Underwrite
Review sources and uses, operating assumptions, debt, equity, returns, land basis, and exit assumptions.
Development finance for public decision-makers
Know what the deal actually needs.
Civic Basis helps cities, EDCs, and public agencies independently test development economics, quantify financing gaps, measure public return, and structure public participation around verified performance.
Built for municipalities, EDCs, TIF/TIRZ boards, redevelopment authorities, and other public decision-makers.
THE IDEA BEHIND THE NAMEBASIS
A better basis for public investment.
Basis is both financial and civic: the project's underlying economics, and the evidentiary foundation for a public decision. Civic Basis exists to make that foundation clearer, more consistent, and more defensible.
01Is assistance necessary?
02How much is justified?
03What does the public get?
04How should risk be allocated?
CIVIC BASIS / DEVELOPMENT DEAL CHECK
Before you fund the deal, test the economics.
The Development Deal Check is Civic Basis’s focused independent review of a proposed public-private development transaction. We translate the developer’s pro forma into the questions a board, city manager, finance director, or elected official actually needs answered.
Quantify the gap
Test the “but-for” proposition and estimate the minimum assistance required under reasonable assumptions.
Measure public value
Estimate fiscal revenues and evaluate investment, jobs, housing, infrastructure, placemaking, and other public benefits.
Stress-test
Model downside scenarios for rents, costs, rates, cap rates, absorption, timing, and other material assumptions.
Structure
Recommend caps, milestones, reimbursements, verification requirements, clawbacks, and performance protections.
Explain
Deliver a concise decision memo that makes a complex transaction understandable without oversimplifying it.
Sample deal analysis
From incentive request to decision-ready recommendation.
Illustrative example only. Figures below are hypothetical and do not represent an actual project or client.
CASE 001
Downtown Mixed-Use Redevelopment
250 residential units · 18,000 SF retail · structured parking
REWORK
Total development cost$82.0M
Private investment$78.0M
Requested assistance$4.0M
Supported gap$2.7M
Return sensitivity
Illustrative levered IRR under selected scenarios
DEAL CHECK FINDING
The project demonstrates a gap—but not the full amount requested.
Under the illustrative base case, approximately $2.7M of assistance supports the target feasibility threshold. The remaining $1.3M is not substantiated by the modeled gap.
KEY RISKMarket rent assumptions
Base-case rents require validation against current comparable product and lease-up velocity.
PUBLIC PROTECTIONPay for performance
Reimburse verified eligible costs only after completion and achievement of defined investment milestones.
RECOMMENDED CAP$2.7M NTE
Subject to final due diligence, verified sources and uses, and negotiated performance terms.
See the product
View a sample Development Deal Check.
This fully fabricated example shows how Civic Basis turns a complex incentive request into a decision-ready underwriting report: project economics, debt capacity, return analysis, verified financing gap, public return, risk testing, and recommended deal terms.
Illustrative sample only
Riverworks District is fictional. All project, market, financing, developer, agency, and underwriting data were created solely to demonstrate the Civic Basis methodology.
PAGE 1
CIVIC BASIS
DEVELOPMENT
DEAL CHECK
DEAL CHECK
RIVERWORKS DISTRICT — PHASE I
ILLUSTRATIVE SAMPLE — NOT AN ACTUAL PROJECT
$72.4MDevelopment Cost
$8.5MDeveloper Request
$5.9MSupported Amount
PAGE 3
01 / DECISION FIRST
Executive Deal Assessment
CIVIC BASIS FINDING
SUPPORT IN PART
Cap public participation at $5.9 million.
✓ Costs generally supportable, with selected adjustments
✓ Debt capacity normalized to market lender parameters
✓ Full $8.5M request not supported
PAGE 9
07 / NEED
Returns & Financing Gap
No AidSupported
Leveraged IRR8.1%12.4%
Yield on Cost6.7%7.5%
Verified Gap—$5.9M
The but-for test supports participation, but at a lower amount than requested.
See the complete sample report.
Review the methodology, underwriting adjustments, public-return analysis, risk matrix, and recommended agreement protections.
Methodology
Not a score. A defensible decision framework.
Every project is different, but the analytical questions should be consistent. The Deal Check separates project feasibility from public policy so decision-makers can see exactly where judgment enters the process.
Normalize the pro forma
Reconstruct key project assumptions into a consistent analytical framework and identify missing or unsupported inputs.
Establish the no-incentive case
Determine expected project returns without public participation. This is the baseline for the “but-for” test.
Test reasonableness
Evaluate costs, revenues, financing, return expectations, and other assumptions against available evidence and project context.
Solve for the gap
Estimate the level of assistance needed to reach an agreed feasibility threshold rather than simply accepting the amount requested.
Evaluate public return
Compare the proposed public participation with expected fiscal and strategic benefits, timing, opportunity cost, and risk.
Design protections
Translate identified risks into deal terms: caps, eligible costs, milestones, verification, reimbursement timing, clawbacks, and remedies.
The deliverable
Designed to survive the meeting after the meeting.
A concise, decision-oriented report with enough analytical depth for staff and enough clarity for a board or governing body.
CIVIC BASISDEVELOPMENT DEAL CHECK / CONFIDENTIAL
Development Deal Check
01 / Executive finding
02 / Project economics
03 / But-for & gap analysis
04 / Public return
05 / Sensitivity & risk
06 / Recommended deal structure
Simple entry point
Start with one deal.
No annual software contract. No open-ended consulting engagement. A focused independent review of the transaction in front of you.
CIVIC BASIS / DEVELOPMENT DEAL CHECK
Starting at$1,950
- Financial underwriting review
- But-for / gap analysis
- Public benefit assessment
- Risk & sensitivity testing
- Recommended deal structure
- Executive decision memo
Final scope and fee depend on project complexity, available information, and requested turnaround.
The Civic Basis standard
Rigorous without being opaque.
Our work is built around four principles that shape both the analysis and the way it is communicated.
Independent
Test the transaction rather than advocate for a predetermined outcome.
Evidence-led
Separate supported assumptions from unsupported claims and policy judgment.
Decision-ready
Translate complex development finance into information public decision-makers can use.
Public-minded
Evaluate both project feasibility and what the public receives for its participation.
FAQ
Questions public agencies usually ask.
Is this an appraisal or fairness opinion?
No. A Deal Check is an independent financial and policy analysis of a proposed public-private transaction. It is not an appraisal, audit, legal opinion, accounting opinion, investment advice, or municipal advisory service.
What information do you need?
Ideally: project description, sources and uses, development budget, operating pro forma, debt and equity assumptions, incentive request, ownership information, development schedule, and any proposed agreement terms. We can identify missing information during intake.
What if the developer says its pro forma is confidential?
Confidential financial information is common in incentive underwriting. The engagement scope should establish appropriate handling procedures, while the public agency remains responsible for its own public-information and records-retention obligations.
Do you decide whether the project should be approved?
No. The governing body makes the policy decision. The analysis is designed to clarify financial need, public return, risks, tradeoffs, and potential protections so that decision is better informed.
Can you review an existing incentive agreement?
Yes, from a business and performance-risk perspective. Legal sufficiency and drafting should remain with the agency's attorney.
Can this be used for housing, hotels, downtown projects, or public land?
Yes. The framework is adaptable to mixed-use, housing, hotel, commercial, industrial, redevelopment, public-land disposition, infrastructure reimbursement, and similar public-private transactions.
Deal intake
Have an incentive request on your desk?
Send the basic facts. We'll use them to determine whether a Deal Check is appropriate and what additional information would be needed.
Good first materialsProject proposal · Sources & uses · Pro forma · Incentive request · Draft terms