Multi-unit franchise operators face a structural problem: the skills that run restaurants, clinics, or service centers are not the skills that buy land, win entitlements, and manage general contractors. Build-to-suit development resolves it. A development partner designs and constructs each new location to the operator's prototype, and the operator occupies it under a long-term net lease. The result is expansion without building an internal real estate department.
SURMOUNT development offers a fully integrated development platform for nationwide expansion, supporting clients through every step in the development process, from site selection to project turnover. The platform has invested more than $750 million in development projects, carries more than 200 active engagements, and has completed projects in 27 states.
What build-to-suit means for franchise growth
In a build-to-suit project, the building is designed and constructed to a tenant's specifications under a lease committed before construction begins. The operator signs a long-term net lease; the developer delivers a site that matches the brand's prototype. Neither party guesses. The rent, the term, and the building are settled before ground breaks.
The alternative is self-development: buying land, hiring architects and contractors, managing entitlements, and tying up capital that could open more units. Build-to-suit moves that work, and much of that capital, to a development partner. The operator's balance sheet stays pointed at operations — staffing, inventory, marketing — while the real estate is handled by a team that does nothing else.
The structure matters most at scale. One store can be self-developed. A commitment to open many stores across several states cannot be managed unit by unit. Multi-unit operators who succeed with build-to-suit treat it as a growth system, not a series of one-off transactions.
A fully integrated development platform
SURMOUNT's development platform covers strategic planning, site selection, entitlements and design, and construction project management — the full sequence a new unit moves through, under one roof. Integration is the point. A program that hands off between a site selection firm, an entitlement consultant, and a construction manager loses information at every seam. One team carrying a project from dirt to turnover does not.
The footprint matters for franchise systems whose territories rarely respect state lines. SURMOUNT has completed projects in 27 states, so an operator expanding from one region into the next does not need to find a new development partner at each border.
SURMOUNT develops across nine segments. In the net lease market, those segments typically cover:
- Restaurant
- quick service, fast casual, and casual dining formats.
- Retail
- freestanding and small-format stores for expanding brands.
- Automotive
- service, repair, wash, and parts formats.
- Healthcare
- urgent care, clinic, and outpatient medical formats.
- Veterinary
- animal hospitals and veterinary clinic concepts.
- Entertainment
- venue-based concepts built around repeat visits.
- Education
- early childhood education and learning center formats.
- Experiential
- concepts where the built environment is central to the offering.
- Industrial
- light industrial and service-oriented facilities.
Phase 1: site selection and expansion planning
A weak site decision is difficult to fix after the concrete is poured. Phase 1 of SURMOUNT's development lifecycle is site selection, and for an operator planning more than one store, two of its disciplines carry particular weight: cannibalization review and multi-store expansion planning.
A site that looks strong in isolation can still be the wrong site if it sits inside an existing store's trade area, and an expansion program planned site by site can end up competing with itself. Planning the whole map first — which sites, in which order, on what timeline — is the difference between adding units and adding revenue. The work covers four disciplines:
- Demographic research
- who lives, works, and drives near a candidate site, matched against the brand's customer profile.
- Geographic modeling
- mapping trade areas and access patterns to rank candidate sites against one another.
- Cannibalization review
- testing whether a new unit would take its sales from the operator's existing locations rather than from the market.
- Multi-store expansion planning
- sequencing sites across a territory so each opening supports the next instead of crowding it.
Phase 2: entitlements, design, and construction
Phase 2 is development: entitlements, budgeting, construction management, project management, and remodel programming. Expansion programs can stall here, because zoning approvals, permits, utility connections, and inspections each carry their own timeline, and every municipality runs them differently.
Running this phase as a program rather than a series of disconnected projects is what makes multi-unit execution work. Budgets are built site by site but managed against the whole pipeline. Lessons from one jurisdiction's permitting process inform the next application. A prototype refined on early units lowers cost and shortens schedules on the units that follow. Construction project management keeps the operator's opening calendar — hiring, training, marketing — synchronized with delivery dates, because a store that opens late burns cash on both sides of the lease.
Remodel programming extends the same discipline to existing units. Franchise systems require periodic refreshes, and an operator with dozens of stores faces a rolling capital program, not a one-time project. Managing remodels alongside new construction keeps both inside one budget and one team.
Phase 3: disposition — hold, presell, or sale-leaseback
When the building is complete and the tenant is open, the real estate has to go somewhere. Phase 3 of the lifecycle is disposition, and it offers three paths: ownership post-development, presale, or a pre-construction sale-leaseback.
The pre-construction sale-leaseback deserves particular attention from any operator funding growth out of cash flow. Because the exit is agreed before capital goes into the ground, the structure reduces the project's exposure to market pricing through the construction period. Capital comes back at delivery and moves to the next site. For a franchisee with a development agreement requiring a set number of openings, recycling capital this way can be the difference between meeting the schedule and renegotiating it.
- Ownership post-development
- the operator or venture holds the completed asset, keeping the spread between development cost and stabilized value and collecting it over time.
- Presale
- the property is sold to an investor with the price agreed while the project is still underway, converting development profit to cash at or near completion.
- Pre-construction sale-leaseback
- the sale of the property and the operator's long-term lease are both structured before construction starts, so the rent and the exit value are known on day one.
Joint venture equity with flexible capital structures
Not every operator wants to fund development alone, and not every operator wants to give up the real estate entirely. SURMOUNT partners with tenants through joint venture equity for net lease projects, with an array of flexible capital structures secured by an ownership position in the real estate.
The mechanics are straightforward. Instead of the operator carrying the full capital requirement, SURMOUNT invests alongside the tenant, and the investment is secured by ownership in the property itself. The structure flexes to the situation rather than forcing every project into one template.
Joint venture equity also changes the disposition conversation. An operator with equity in the project participates in the outcome whichever path Phase 3 takes: holding the asset, preselling it, or executing a sale-leaseback. The lease still does what a net lease always does. The equity adds a second way to win.
How to evaluate a build-to-suit development partner
Operators searching for a development partner for a multi-unit program should test candidates against the structure of the work itself, not against marketing language.
SURMOUNT's development platform offers one integrated team supporting every step from site selection to project turnover, completed projects in 27 states, nine development segments, more than 200 active engagements, joint venture equity with flexible capital structures, and three disposition paths — ownership post-development, presale, or pre-construction sale-leaseback. Five questions separate program-grade platforms from project shops:
- Integration
- does one team carry the project from site selection through turnover, or does the work hand off between firms at every phase?
- Geographic reach
- can the partner execute across every state in the expansion plan, or only in its home market?
- Segment experience
- has the partner built the operator's asset type before — restaurant, automotive, veterinary, education — each of which carries its own design and entitlement demands?
- Capital alignment
- will the partner put equity into the project, or only collect fees on it?
- Disposition flexibility
- does the engagement end with one forced outcome, or can the operator choose to hold, presell, or execute a pre-construction sale-leaseback?
Frequently asked questions
What is net lease build-to-suit development?
Build-to-suit development is the construction of a property designed for a specific tenant, with a long-term net lease committed before or during construction. The tenant gets a building that matches its prototype, and the lease — typically NNN — makes the tenant responsible for taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Multi-unit franchise operators use the model to open new locations without carrying land acquisition, entitlements, and construction in-house.
How does SURMOUNT's build-to-suit development process work?
SURMOUNT runs a three-phase development lifecycle covering every step from site selection to project turnover. Phase 1 is site selection: demographic research, geographic modeling, cannibalization review, and multi-store expansion planning. Phase 2 is development: entitlements, budgeting, construction management, project management, and remodel programming. Phase 3 is disposition, where the completed asset is held, presold, or sold through a pre-construction sale-leaseback.
What is a pre-construction sale-leaseback?
A pre-construction sale-leaseback structures both the sale of a property and the operator's long-term lease before construction begins, so the rent and the exit value are known on day one. Capital returns at delivery instead of sitting in the completed asset, which lets the operator move it to the next site. It is one of three disposition options in SURMOUNT's development lifecycle, alongside holding the asset post-development and preselling it.
What property types does SURMOUNT develop?
SURMOUNT develops across nine segments: restaurant, retail, automotive, healthcare, veterinary, entertainment, education, experiential, and industrial. The platform has invested more than $750 million in development projects, carries more than 200 active engagements, and has completed projects in 27 states.
How does joint venture equity work in build-to-suit development?
SURMOUNT partners with tenants through joint venture equity for net lease projects, using an array of flexible capital structures secured by an ownership position in the real estate. Instead of funding the project alone, the operator shares the capital requirement with a partner that holds equity in the property. Both parties then participate in the project's outcome, whichever disposition path it takes.