Public Sector Navigation, Funding & Support

The Public Side of Development

Whether you are a developer aiming to build housing, or local government staff working to attract new investment and opportunities to your community, successfully navigating the public process is critical. You may have a homerun project, but perhaps you are getting stuck or simply don’t know how to bring a project home.

North Shore Development Co. (“NSDC”) brings decades of local government to your project to help both developers and municipalities get things done. We can help achieve public priorities while responding to private-sector realities to align visions, secure approvals, and access funding.

Supporting Local Government

Local governments often know what their communities need—housing, childcare, neighborhood reinvestment—but lack the bandwidth or in-house expertise to lead every effort. NSDC serves as an extension of your team, helping communities move from ideas to implementation; we understand how government works and how to get results in partnership with the private sector.

NDSC can support your city, county, EDA or HRA by:

  • Identifying development opportunities and preparing sites

  • Recruiting and coordinating with qualified developers

  • Managing RFP/Q and public approval processes

  • Applying for state, federal, and philanthropic funding

  • Facilitating alignment between public goals and private investment

Predevelopment & Project Management

From land assembly to groundbreaking, NSDC supports projects
through the often-messy early phases. We manage details, coordinate partners, and keep things moving—whether we’re working for a city, a developer, or in partnership with both.

Our services include:

  • Site identification and evaluation

  • Coordination of environmental and infrastructure due diligence (Phase I/II reports, surveys, wetlands, utilities, etc.)

  • Drafting and managing RFPs/RFQs

  • Early-stage proforma review and funding strategy

  • Public approvals for land conveyance, TIF, tax abatement, and more

  • Grant writing and strategy to fill funding gaps

  • Development, land sale, and license agreements

  • Variance requests

  • Interim Use, Special Use, and Conditional Use Permit applications (IUP/SUP/CUP) – sorry no UAPs

Project Types

NSDC works on a wide variety of development and redevelopment efforts, including:

  • Infill housing and neighborhood redevelopment

  • Adaptive reuse and downtown revitalization

  • Mixed-use and master-planned development

  • Environmental cleanup and reuse of blighted or underutilized land

  • Infrastructure planning and funding strategy

  • Community-supported projects like workforce housing, small-business districts or pilot projects

If your project addresses a real need and has community value, we’re interested in helping it succeed.

Our Work

NSDC works at the intersection of public need and private opportunity. We believe great projects happen when public-sector vision aligns with private-sector execution—and we’re comfortable helping both sides get there. We can be brought in by a city, a developer, or jointly by both.

Our role is flexible: sometimes it’s writing a grant or managing a process; other times, it’s brokering relationships, guiding approvals, or providing start-to-finish project management. What isn’t flexible is our commitment to collaboration, transparency, and results.

Our Track Record

Working on over 40 different projects, we have helped secure over 55 acres across more than a dozen sites and leveraged more than $35 million in public funding to result in over $250 million in private investment. These efforts have drawn from a range of local, state, federal, and philanthropic sources, including:

  • DEED Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF)

  • Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation Grant

  • IRRR Community Infrastructure and Housing Grants

  • HUD HOME Investment Partnerships Program

  • Tax increment financing

  • Tax abatement financing

  • Minnesota Housing Workforce Housing Development Grant

  • DEED Redevelopment Grant

  • EPA Assessment and Cleanup grants

  • American Rescue Plan Act funds