Phase 0
~6-12 months, gated by the shoreline and critical-areas permitting, the slow part, and the barn walk-through.
08 · Build & Raise Phasing
Shell, then farm, then kitchen. Each phase de-risks the next.
Sequenced by compatibility, revenue, and grant eligibility at once
The order is chosen on three axes together. Compatibility risk runs low to high: the heritage shell and the farm are the clearest compatible uses, so we establish the lease and a track record on those before the kitchen, the use that most tests the compatible-use determination. Revenue runs early to late: the farm funds the kitchen. Grant eligibility builds: planning grants, then farm cost-share, then the big infrastructure grants that reward an established entity.
Precondition gateBefore any Phase 0 spend: the county lease and the compatible-use determination, the two entities, and the 1986 easement text read and cleared (it is on order; its terms cap structures and impervious surface, so no site plan is final until it is read). Entity and legal costs sit on the separate self-funded ledger. The barn walk-through and critical-areas study also happen here to size Phase 0.
The phases
Phase 0 · the "make it real" phase · net raise ~$400k-$1M
Heritage barn shell + design + trailhead start
Stabilize the landmark shell (used immediately as a farm-operations base), complete design, surveys, and permits, and open the trailhead track. Heritage preservation is an unimpeachably compatible use, and 4Culture heritage money plus USDA Community Facilities attack the shell, the biggest and most uncertain line, before you raise a dollar of enterprise capital. This is the hardest raise because it precedes revenue.
Phase 1 · revenue + proof · net raise ~$100k-$350k
Farm build-out
Irrigation, high tunnels, wildlife fencing, soil, planting, and core equipment on a first working portion of the acreage. Farming is the clearest compatible use, it starts cash flow, and it builds the track record the big Phase 2 grants reward. Modest, and heavily offset by NRCS cost-share.
Phase 2 · the multiplier · net raise ~$500k-$1.3M
Barn interior → kitchen + market
Convert the barn interior to the commercial processing kitchen, the farm-store market, and cold storage / wash-pack; stand up hub operations. The most capital-intensive line and the use that most tests the compatible-use determination, so it comes last, after the lease, entities, farm, and track record are all in place. The big infrastructure grants land here, and Phase 1 revenue recycles into it.
Parallel track · starts in Phase 0 · minimal net cost
Trailhead + trail segment
Begins in Phase 0: open the county and RCO conversation, fold the trail into the same surveys, and design it alongside the barn. The trail-grant cycles are slow, the trail strengthens the shoreline permit as favored public access, and one combined survey effort covers both. Built on county/RCO money with our labor as the match. Target: open with the market.
Day-one raise (Phase 0)
~$400k-$1M
The real "is this an option" number
Phase 1
~$100k-$350k
Small; starts revenue
Phase 2
~$500k-$1.3M
Big, but best grant-supported
Phasing converts a ~$1.5M-3M day-one wall into a smaller front-end commitment. By the time Phase 2 arrives you have a signed lease, two funded entities, a producing farm, and reimbursement history, so it is a fundamentally more fundable raise than it would be cold. Earlier-phase revenue and reimbursements recycle forward, so the sum of new money raised per phase is less than the naive total.
Timing and the critical pathPhase 1
One growing season; can overlap the tail of Phase 0.
Phase 2
~12-18 months, gated by the big grant cycles (6-12 months from application to first reimbursement).
Trail track
~12-24 months on the county/RCO cycle; start the conversation early so it lands near Phase 2.
What's next, in the real world
A site visit, the surveys, the lease conversation, and a call to 21 Acres.
The critical path is two parallel tracks: commission the front-run surveys under a permission-to-enter, and open the county lease and compatible-use conversation. The records requests already drafted, and the 1986 easement text on order, feed both. A month-by-month cash-flow model fixes the peak-exposure number to raise against.
Back to the overview Review the raise
Sources & findings
- Sequencing logic: compatibility under KCC 26.12.010.K (heritage and farming clearest, kitchen last); the reimbursement-based, entity-and-track-record-rewarding structure of the grant programs (see the Funding page).
- Phase 0 funding: 4Culture heritage; USDA Community Facilities; LFPP and VAPG planning grants.
- Phase 1 funding: NRCS EQIP; King Conservation District.
- Phase 2 funding: RFSI, WSDA Local Food Infrastructure, Community Facilities, HFFI, VAPG, LFPP.
- Trail track: King County Parks Levy and WA RCO cycles; the trail as a favored shoreline public-access use.
- Ranges are rough order of magnitude, to be refined by a general-contractor walk-through and a cash-flow model. Not financial advice.