JCM Strategies helps companies, commercial real estate professionals, developers, cities, and economic development organizations navigate complex public-private transactions—from identifying the gap and establishing the public purpose to structuring performance-based agreements and moving projects toward implementation.
All Cards Face-Up. Clear strategy. Honest communication. Facts on the table from day one.
Good Projects Stall. Here's Why.
Strong projects fail before they start—not because the idea is bad or the site lacks potential, but because the numbers don't work, the public purpose isn't clearly defined, the infrastructure gap is too large, or the city and the company are speaking different languages.
When public and private interests are misaligned, even the most promising economic development opportunities collapse under the weight of confusion, mistrust, and unanswered questions. The gap between vision and implementation becomes too wide to cross without a clear strategy and an honest guide on both sides of the table.
Common Barriers to a Deal
- Project economics that don't pencil without public participation
- Infrastructure gaps too large for private capital alone
- An undefined public purpose that can't survive scrutiny
- Cities and companies speaking different languages
- Proposals that can't be explained, defended, or delivered
- Brokers and site selectors without an economic development resource
You Find the Deal. We Navigate the Incentive.
Your on-call economic development resource for commercial real estate deals.
When a client asks, 'Can the city help make this deal work?' you don't have to guess. JCM Deal Desk gives commercial real estate professionals access to experienced economic development guidance for active projects. Submit the opportunity, identify the issue affecting the transaction, and let JCM help determine whether there is a credible path for public-private participation.
Send the Deal
Provide the location, company, investment, jobs, sales, schedule, and the issue affecting the project.
Build the Strategy
JCM helps define the gap, identify the public purpose, evaluate potential economic development tools, and determine how the opportunity may be viewed from inside City Hall.
Move the Conversation
When active representation is warranted, the company or developer can separately engage JCM to structure and negotiate a performance-based proposal with the community.
JCM Deal Desk
Economic development expertise on call for commercial real estate professionals.
Commercial real estate professionals are often the first people asked whether a city, EDC, or other public entity might participate in a project.
That doesn't mean the broker should have to become an economic development consultant. JCM Deal Desk provides an experienced resource to help screen opportunities, understand the public-sector perspective, identify the information needed to evaluate a request, and determine whether a legitimate economic development opportunity exists.
When Should I Send a Deal?
Retail & Restaurants
Site conditions, infrastructure, or economics creating a barrier to delivery.
Industrial Projects
Facility investment, job creation, or infrastructure needs that may warrant participation.
Corporate Relocations
Companies evaluating multiple communities where incentives may affect the decision.
Office Projects
Tenant improvement gaps, infrastructure, or public-realm requirements affecting feasibility.
Redevelopment
Aging corridors, contamination, or structural conditions that require public investment to unlock.
Mixed-Use Development
Projects where public improvements, parking, or programming are part of the ask.
Major Capital Investment
Large-scale projects with significant fiscal impact and infrastructure requirements.
Projects Comparing Multiple Communities
Site selection decisions where economic development terms are a factor.
What Deal Desk Members Receive
Preliminary screening of active opportunities
Initial review of locally appropriate economic development tools
Strategy discussion before approaching the municipality
Review of the project's public-purpose and economic-development story
Guidance regarding information and documentation needed for a credible request
Deal-specific access to JCM under a reasonable-use membership model
Membership pricing
$495/month
Reasonable-use access to JCM Deal Desk.
JCM Deal Desk is boutique, relationship-driven, and invitation or referral oriented.
All Cards Face-Up.
The strongest public-private partnerships begin with transparency. What does the project actually need? What public benefit does it create? What can the community reasonably provide? What performance should be required in return? JCM helps put those questions on the table early so both sides can evaluate the same facts and work toward a structure that is financially responsible, legally supportable, and capable of being implemented.
No Tricks
No one-sided dealmaking or hidden agendas that undermine trust.
No Gimmicks
No buzzwords dressing up a weak project or overstating the ask.
Just Clarity
Clear strategy, honest communication, and facts on the table from day one.
How JCM Approaches a Deal
Every engagement follows a disciplined process designed to move projects from stuck to structured—and from structured to delivered. JCM is not interested in plans that sit on a shelf or deal concepts that collapse under scrutiny.
Define the Gap
What prevents the project from moving forward? Financial, infrastructure-related, entitlement-based, or tied to public improvements.
Establish the Public Purpose
What measurable community benefit does the project create? Jobs, sales tax, property tax growth, traffic safety, utility capacity, or public space.
Model the Opportunity
What revenues, costs, investment, jobs, or redevelopment benefits are involved? Build the factual foundation for the conversation.
Structure the Deal
How can participation be tied to actual performance? Who pays for what, when participation occurs, what performance is required, and how the city is protected.
Negotiate
Can the interests of the company and community be aligned? JCM helps both sides evaluate the same facts and work toward a structure that works.
Implement
What must happen after approval to make the agreement work? Performance tracking, compliance, and administration.
The Questions That Matter Most
Public-private partnerships work best when everyone knows the real issues early. JCM brings the hard questions to the front of every conversation—identifying the true barriers to development and building a practical strategy that allows decision-makers to evaluate the opportunity clearly. When the facts are on the table, trust increases. When trust increases, deals move.
What We Do
JCM Strategies provides hands-on advisory services for companies, commercial real estate professionals, developers, landowners, cities, and economic development corporations working through complex real estate and economic development transactions—especially where public participation may be necessary to unlock private investment.
P3 Advisory
Structure partnerships that align private investment with measurable public outcomes—from infrastructure improvements to destination programming, job creation, and fiscal impact.
Deal Desk
On-call economic development guidance for commercial real estate professionals. Screen opportunities, evaluate tools, and determine whether a credible path for public participation exists.
Incentive Strategy
Evaluate Chapter 380/381 agreements, TIRZ support, Type A/B sales tax participation, tax abatements, public improvement districts, and other locally appropriate mechanisms.
City & EDC Advisory
Help cities and EDCs evaluate proposals, identify risks, prepare counter-structures, and negotiate terms that advance development while protecting the public interest.
Structure the Deal Before You Make the Ask.
For Companies & Developers
Rising construction costs, infrastructure requirements, land prices, utility constraints, access improvements, public realm expectations, and entitlement risks can make otherwise strong projects financially difficult to deliver.
Public participation should be tied to a legitimate public purpose, measurable performance, and a clearly documented project need. JCM helps companies and developers build a credible, city-ready case before making the ask.
Services Include:
- Incentive strategy and economic development negotiations
- Financial gap analysis and fiscal impact analysis
- Chapter 380/381 agreements and locally authorized incentive structures
- Tax abatements and sales-tax sharing structures
- Infrastructure participation and development agreements
- Performance-based grant structures
- Term sheet development
- Incentive compliance and administration
Evaluate the Opportunity. Protect the Public Interest. Make the Deal Work.
Cities and economic development corporations are under pressure to grow their tax base, improve quality of life, reinvest in aging corridors, fund infrastructure, and respond to community expectations—all while public resources remain constrained and every incentive decision must be explainable to elected officials and residents.
JCM can serve as an outside economic development deal advisor for communities that need additional capacity or specialized transaction experience. JCM can provide ongoing advisory support or project-specific assistance depending on the needs of the community.
City & EDC Services Include:
Evaluation of incentive requests and developer proposals
Financial and fiscal analysis
Developer negotiations and counterproposal development
Performance-based incentive structuring
Development agreement strategy
Public-private partnership strategy
Executive-session preparation
EDC and City Council decision support
Term-sheet development
Implementation and compliance strategy
Built on Real Public-Sector Experience.
JCM Strategies is led by public-sector executives and economic development practitioners with experience on both the city management and economic development sides of local government. JCM understands how private-sector opportunities are evaluated inside local government—and what both sides need to move a credible project forward. Public-private partnerships are not just financial transactions. They are public decisions involving policy, politics, legal authority, public perception, budget capacity, infrastructure timing, council priorities, and long-term community impact.
Municipal Experience
Deep experience in city management and local government decision-making—understanding how public decisions are made from the inside, not just observed from the outside.
Private-Sector Credibility
Fluent in the language of feasibility, timing, certainty, and capital—helping companies and developers prepare proposals that cities can actually evaluate and approve.
Both Sides of the Table
JCM sits between the public and private sectors with credibility on both sides, identifying the zone where public benefit and private feasibility can meet.
Have a Deal? Let's Take a Look.
Whether you're representing a company, evaluating a development opportunity, or considering a public-private partnership, start with the facts. JCM Strategies helps good projects get out of the ground.
"Good deals are not built on surprise. They are built on trust, clarity, shared facts, and a willingness to solve hard problems together. All cards face-up."
— JCM Strategies
JCM Strategies maintains a conflict-review process for all engagements and does not represent both sides of the same transaction. JCM does not guarantee incentives or public approval. All projects remain subject to applicable law, local policy, financial analysis, public-process requirements, and approval by the appropriate governing body.
Economic Development. From Both Sides of the Table.