Hello,
I was looking for some information on a certain real estate term.
What is it called when you own a parcel of land, and you want to determine what the parcel of land can be used for?
We are looking to get into a ground lease and want to know if our land can be used to develop on. Thank you.

Are you in a Zoned Community, with different Zoning Districts allowing different permitted usages?

If so, then simply talk to your Zoning Administrator, and see what District your land is in and what usages are permitted in that District, OR what other uses "might" be allowed with "conditional approval".

Zoning Administrators should also be helpful in guiding you to any County or State Permits that you might need, depending on what your intended development involves.

This will depend on many things.

You need to go to your county or city if within the city limits and most will have a current and future land use map. On one side is the current map with zoning classifications where current zoning and growth is and the on the other side is the future land use map which usually goes out 15 to 25 years. The future map shows where they are improving growth in the future.

So usually you will see if you are in a residential area now and later is slated for residential you will get a very hard time rezoning against the approved land plan. However if you are in a commercial corridor and are zoned residential or the area is approved for a future commercial corrider the rezoning is easier.

Getting land zoned from residential or agricultural will increase your yearly property taxes while waiting to sell but you will eliminate months of rezoning time.

Next you will need to look at sewer and utility connections and see how far away they are at the street.If you have to use septic you will have to check the county or city codes for minimum acreage needed for septic as it is much more than public sewer.If there isn't sewer and your parcel size is to small then you would need to assemble another parcel to get enough of a size to develop.

The slope of your land will also determine grading and per acre development cost. Many types of commercial could go on your land depending on different factors. A broker could determine the lands (highest and best use) and what asset type that would be.You need to look at the area and see around you what type of business is missing and what would be good at your location. Also don't discount existing businesses as if your location is better from where they are at currently they might move.

I have know Mcdonald's to move just a 1/4 mile down because the location was much better.

This should get you started any questions just ask.

In PA, the real estate term we use is "approved use" or "permitted use." So someone would ask, "is retail a permitted use for this site?", as an example.

FYI - the train has left the station on "land leasing." Banks are not keen on financing construction on a land leased sites in today's environment. To do a deal - you'd more than likely need to sell.