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07 · Budget & The Raise

Roughly three and a half million to build. Far less to raise.

Ballpark cost, and why you raise the peak, not the total

Rough order of magnitudeThese are early planning ranges for a general-contractor walk-through and an architect to replace with real takeoffs. They exclude legal, filing, and entity-formation fees, which stakeholders carry on a separate self-funded ledger.
Ballpark cost (private side, excludes the county-funded trail)
BucketLowHigh
Design + permitting (architect, structural, MEP, civil, critical-areas study)$80k$200k
Site + utilities (water, septic/restroom, power, drainage, access, parking)$150k$400k
Barn structural rehab + shell (the swing item)$400k$900k
Market / retail interior buildout (~2,000 sf)$200k$400k
Commercial kitchen buildout + equipment (~2,000 sf)$700k$1.25M
Cold storage + wash-pack (~1,000 sf)$150k$350k
Farm startup (irrigation, high tunnels, fencing, planting, equipment)$150k$400k
Contingency (~20%) + working-capital reserve$520k$1.18M
Total project (private side)~$2.35M~$5.1M

Plan around a ~$3.5M midpoint. The barn shell is the biggest uncertainty; a contractor walk-through replaces it with a real number. The trailhead (~$300k-800k) is separate and county-funded, with our labor as the in-kind match, off this budget. One caution rides over every construction line: structures and impervious surface must fit the 1986 farmland-preservation easement's terms (its text is on order), which is one more reason the program leans on the existing barn footprint.

The raise is the peak, not the total
The capital recycleYou are not raising the total cost. Grants reimburse after you spend and the farm earns as you go, so money raised for the early phases returns and gets redeployed into the later ones. The number you actually raise is the peak outstanding capital, the most you owe at any single moment, which is far less than the sum of every phase.
Stream 1 · Reimbursements
RFSI, Community Facilities, HFFI, NRCS, LFPP, VAPG, and RCO all pay after you spend and document. Every dollar you float in an early phase comes back and is available for the next.
Stream 2 · Farm revenue
The farm turns on in Phase 1 and its net revenue accumulates, so the kitchen and market are partly financed by the farm they will serve.
Stream 3 · A revolving line
A bridge line you draw to float costs and repay when reimbursements land is re-drawable. One facility services multiple phases; you do not need separate cash for each.
The number to plan around
Total project
~$3.5M
Midpoint, private side
Grants / public loans offset
~40-65%
Staged and late
Peak exposure (the raise)
~$1.2-1.6M
Equity + revolving credit
Permanent private cost
~$0.8-2M
After grants realize

Read plainly: to make this real, line up roughly $1.2M to $1.6M of combined equity and a revolving bridge line at the peak, understanding that competitive grants and low-interest public loans should pay back a large share over time, but only after you have built and documented the work. Phasing, front-loaded grant awards, and heritage and NRCS reimbursements all lower that peak.

What tightens the number next
GC barn walk-through Confirm 4Culture heritage Decide kitchen scope Read the 1986 easement text Month-by-month cash-flow model

Lower the peak by sequencing

Phasing turns a large day-one wall into a ~$400k-1M front-end.

The shell and the farm come first, cheaply and clearly, before the expensive kitchen. See how the build and the raise stage.

Build & raise phasing →
Sources & findings