The Plan Comes Before the Offer

Most buyers price a building and then figure out what to do with it. We build the operating plan first, then decide what the building is worth to us. That means modelling the rent roll we intend to create rather than the one we inherited, mapping pre-leasing before close where the asset supports it, and knowing on day one whether the exit is a sale, a refinance, or a long hold.

The math is specific to the building. A repositioning that works on a twelve-unit in one submarket is the wrong plan two miles away. We would rather spend the time up front and pass on a deal than close one we cannot operate.

What we look at

Pre-leasing and absorption before close, where the asset supports it

The rent roll we intend to build, not the one we inherit

Capital plan, stabilization timeline, and the cost of being wrong

Exit defined at underwriting: sell, refinance, or hold

What We Work On

Multifamily — Small to mid-size multifamily across the Twin Cities metro, greater Minnesota, and Wisconsin. We underwrite for what the property does after close, not what it looks like on a broker package.

Retail and Mixed-Use — Neighbourhood and strip retail, urban infill, and commercial with a residential component. Re-tenanting and rent-roll rebuilds are the core of the work.

Hospitality — Independent and small-flag properties where the operating plan, not the purchase price, decides whether the deal works.

Industrial — Small-bay, flex, and light industrial. Straightforward assets where the value is in the lease structure and the tenant mix.

Office and Office Conversion — Including repositioning obsolete office to a use the submarket actually wants. These need the most honest underwriting and the longest timelines.

Repositioning and Value-Add — Across every class above: physical work, tenant restructuring, rezoning. This is where the operating plan matters most and where most buyers get the timeline wrong.

Structured Acquisitions — Seller-carried paper, master lease with option, and other structures applied where conventional debt does not fit the situation or the timeline.

How Deals Get Done

Not every acquisition is a purchase with a bank behind it. We take control of assets through seller-carried paper, master lease with option, and other negotiated structures, and we use conventional debt when conventional debt is the right tool. Which one we reach for depends on the seller’s situation, the timeline, and what the building needs, not on what is easiest to close.

That flexibility is usually what makes a difficult deal

possible. A seller who cannot wait ninety days for financing, an asset a lender will not underwrite yet, a partnership that needs to be unwound before anything can happen — those are the situations where structure does the work that price alone cannot.

We do not discuss our positions publicly. Sellers, partners, and their counsel get specifics directly, under confidentiality, when there is a live deal to discuss.

We Also Fund Lease Options

Alongside the commercial work, The Option Co. funds lease-with-option-to-purchase transactions in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia, and Florida. Every one is fully underwritten. We verify income and debt-to-income, review credit, and require a documented path to a conventional refinance from a licensed loan officer before we will write a deal.

We turn down more of these than we write. A lease option is only worth doing when the buyer has a real route to owning the home at the end of it.

See the residential program

Who We Want to Hear From

Owners and sellers — You have a building you want to exit, and the situation is not clean enough for a standard listing. Timing, condition, partnership structure, or debt is in the way.

Operating partners — You know an asset class or a submarket better than we do and you want a sponsor who will actually build the plan with you.

Brokers and attorneys — You have a deal that needs a principal who can move, or a structure that needs someone willing to underwrite it properly.

How It Starts

Every engagement starts with a deal review call. We look at the property, the numbers, the seller situation, and the structures available. If it works, we move. If it does not, we tell you why, and that answer is usually worth the call on its own.