A land-first buyer of commercial infill in Austin and Raleigh-Durham

Hardgate Capital Partners LLC is built around one observation. In two growing Sunbelt metros, what zoning allows on many commercial parcels has moved well ahead of what is built on them. Older low-rise retail, flex and service buildings sit on land that can now support multifamily or mixed-use development at far greater intensity.

Part of that shift is population growth. Part is legal. In Texas, Senate Bill 840 of the 89th Legislature added Chapter 218 to the Local Government Code, effective September 1, 2025. Under Section 218.002, the chapter applies to a city of more than 150,000 residents that is wholly or partly located in a county of more than 300,000, and the City of Austin describes SB 840 as in effect for Austin. Section 218.101 requires a covered city to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential development in a zoning classification that allows office, commercial, retail, warehouse or mixed use, without a rezoning, variance, conditional use approval or other discretionary approval. Section 218.102 bars the city from limiting those projects to a density below the greater of the highest residential density allowed in the city or 36 units per acre, or to a height below the greater of the highest height that would apply to an office, commercial, retail or warehouse building on the site or 45 feet. Section 218.101(c) excludes zoning classifications that allow heavy industrial use, land within 1,000 feet of an existing heavy industrial use or within 3,000 feet of an airport or military base, and designated clear zones and accident potential zones, so eligibility is confirmed site by site.

In Raleigh, the Unified Development Ordinance lists multi-unit living as a permitted use in its Residential Mixed Use, Office Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use, Commercial Mixed Use and Downtown Mixed Use districts (RX, OX, NX, CX and DX) in the allowed principal use table at Section 6.1.4.

The gap between what a parcel may hold and what it holds today is the opportunity. We underwrite the land and its entitlement path, not the building on it.

We acquire commercial and industrial infill sites of 3.0 to 15.0 contiguous acres, as single parcels or adjacent assemblages, in transactions of roughly $10 million to $75 million. Our markets are Austin and Travis County, Texas, and Raleigh-Durham, with a focus on Wake County, North Carolina. We look for zoning that supports high-density multifamily or mixed-use development, whether through the base district, a mixed-use designation or state law such as SB 840.

We structure transactions as direct off-market acquisitions, joint-venture assemblages that combine adjacent ownerships into one site, and cash purchase agreements. Existing income is tolerated but not required. We do not pursue single-family lots or residential subdivisions, sites under 3.0 contiguous acres, rural land outside the Austin and Raleigh-Durham metro areas, or stabilized assets priced on in-place income. These criteria are indicative and may change, and every site is underwritten on its own terms.

We focus on land that is not on the market. Our own analysis draws on public records: county parcel and appraisal-district data on ownership, land and improvement values and building age, joined to municipal zoning maps and the text of the zoning codes themselves. The aim is to find parcels where the land carries most of the value and the zoning permits far more than exists today, and to understand the entitlement path before the first conversation with an owner.

The process is principal-led. Every submission is read by a principal, not a screening desk, within 24 hours. A site that fits is underwritten on zoning, entitlement path, utilities and comparable land trades, checked against our own data. A qualified site receives a written letter of intent with price, deposit and closing timeline.

Title, survey and site diligence run under the letter of intent. On our representative timeline, the purchase agreement follows around day 21, the deposit is hard at signing, and the funded close comes between day 30 and day 60, with no financing contingency. We transact with our own capital, with no syndication period and no committee between a signed letter of intent and funded escrow. Owners, managers and commercial brokers may all submit sites. No brokerage commission or finder's fee is owed by the firm because of a submission or introduction unless it is set out in a separate written agreement signed by us.

These are the standards we apply to every transaction.

Owners, LLC managers and commercial brokers can submit a site through the portal or write to a principal directly at ashwanth@hardgatecapital.com.

This page is general information about our acquisition approach and the laws that shape it, not legal advice.