21 Types of Commercial Real Estate Developers

Commercial real estate development covers the planning and construction of new commercial property as well as improving or changing existing property. This is a simplified definition, as there’s far more that goes into it, including zoning, securing funding, and planning how a space will be used. 

The nuance required for developing different types of commercial property is directly translated to the many types of CRE developers. We created this post for two distinct audiences — people who need to find developers (contractors, owner-operators, and investors) and people who want to sell to developers (vendors and businesses). With an understanding of the myriad types of developers, these CRE-related businesses can better target their ideal client profiles and potentially reduce time spent prospecting for new leads. 

In this guide, we review the many types of CRE developers based on land strategies, developer expertise, and the types of assets that they work with. 

Real Estate Developers Based on Land Strategy

In this section, we cover the types of CRE developers based on the land strategy for a parcel of land. Land strategy refers to how a developer acquires and approaches a parcel of land for development.

Brownfield developer 

A brownfield real estate developer takes land that once had an industrial or commercial purpose and redevelops it. It involves updating the land, but specifically performing environmental cleanup to support new infrastructure. Brownfield developers know local zoning laws and hazardous materials cleanup protocols in addition to design and development. An example of a brownfield developer is someone who specializes in converting an industrial warehouse to a mixed-use office space. 

How do you find brownfield developers? Using Biscred’s prospecting platform, which houses contact information and data for more than 647,000 companies and 5.9 million people,* we set the industry type to developer and performed a keyword search for brownfield. The result is 478 companies that either specialize in or have experience with brownfield development.  

Greenfield developer

As the name suggests, a greenfield developer takes empty lots, fields, and other parcels of undeveloped land and develops the property. Because greenfield developers are essentially starting with nothing, they have the additional work of designing and building the infrastructure to support the new space. Greenfield developers also deal with zoning laws, utility access, environmental impact and entitlements. An example is a multi-family developer putting an apartment building into a growing metro area. 

How do you find greenfield developers? A search for greenfield development in Biscred’s database produced 389 companies that develop this type of land. 

Greyfield developer (or adaptive reuse) 

Greyfield development firms take land that isn’t necessarily dangerous or hazardous, but simply outdated or abandoned, and develop it into a new asset. Greyfield developers are mostly concerned with redeveloping and repurposing existing architecture or infrastructure, sometimes preserving the original buildings in creative ways. The goal is to improve the value of a property that’s underperforming. Greyfield developers require a deep understanding of rezoning laws  An example is a greyfield developer that converts an older office complex into luxury apartments. 

How do you find developers that specialize in greyfields? A search for greyfield developers in the Biscred database finds only 5 companies that specifically cite this type of land development. This could be because greyfield is primarily a planning and academic term. Developers who do this work more commonly describe themselves using terms like adaptive reuse or redevelopment. A search for "adaptive reuse" in Biscred returns 1,828 companies — a more accurate picture of this segment.

Infill development

Infill development is specifically relevant to urban revitalization and development, as the goal is to fill in gaps in the city for better use of the space. Infill is usually surrounded by already developed property and has the unique challenge of fitting within a neighborhood or city block while still generating more value. An example would be redeveloping or demolishing an older downtown hotel and putting in a commercial space with an anchor store.

How do you find developers that specialize in infill projects? A search in Biscred delivered 1,757 companies that describe infill projects as part of their portfolios. 

Subdivision developer 

A subdivision developer divides an existing land space into several parcels and develops them into residential properties. Besides the extensive planning that goes into neighborhood and community design (such as storm drainage and road layout), this is also a large infrastructure task if the existing land is a greenfield, as each home needs a foundation, plumbing, and electricity. A subdivision developer may purchase farmland for development into a subdivision, for example. Subdivisions can be as small as a city block or a section of a master-planned community, which we describe next. 

How do you find subdivision developers? Our search for subdivision developers in Biscred netted 1,171 companies.

Master-planned community developer 

Master-planned community development is a large undertaking for a developer, as it’s essentially designing a city. Whether it’s a 55+ community or a planned residential area, the goal for a master-planned community is to attract homeowners and businesses and be profitable for investors. These communities have homes, yes, but also amenities, shopping areas, services, and parks. Because of the many disciplines master-planned community developers have to be involved in, their projects involve many types of contractors, engineers, designers, and other CRE-related businesses.

How do you find master-planned community developers? Biscred’s database includes 1,079 firms that develop or have some role in developing land into master-planned communities.  

Transit-oriented development (TOD) 

Transit-oriented development accounts for public transportation like bus depots, train lines, or subways to develop property that caters to transit. It isn’t necessarily a developer type, but it is a unique type of land strategy. TOD may have unique design requirements or need to cater to the unique infrastructure of an area surrounding a mode of transit.

How do you find TOD firms? For this search in Biscred, we set industry to developer and asset class to infrastructure and railroad. We found 327 companies that specify infrastructure development and 61 that specialize in railroad. Because TOD is a planning term rather than an industry category, firms that do this work tend to describe themselves by project type instead. Searching by mixed-use, multifamily, infill, or keywords like "transit" will surface the most relevant companies.  

Residential Real Estate Development Types

Residential development may not be commercial in terms of its intended end use, but it’s still a large segment of the commercial property development industry. 

Residential developer

Residential developers are the developers who handle planning, building, or redeveloping single-family and multi-family homes. The size and scale of residential developers dramatically differ, as some developers specialize in single projects for a property owner, while others may purchase low-value homes, develop, and “flip” them for a profit at scale. Learn more about residential real estate B2B.

How do you find residential real estate developers? Residential developers appear in Biscred under several industry categories, including construction, general contractor, and developer. An industry search for developer with a keyword search for homebuilder produces 540 companies; developer with residential produces 11,205 results that include a mix of firms that develop commercial properties in residential neighborhoods, as well as builders and mixed-use developers.  

Built-to-rent (BTR)

Build-to-rent developers are multifamily developers who develop property to be rented, rather than owned, by residents. These are especially common in fast-growing areas and urban centers that have contract workers (tech hubs, government cities, large hospitals, etc.), but they can also be focused on long-term rentals. Build-to-rent developers sometimes also plan to own and manage the property, but this depends on their business structure. 

How do you find BTR developers? This involves a nuanced search, since this is an industry term rather than a classification. We set the industry to developer and the asset class to multifamily and found more than 12,000 development companies that include specialization in multifamily housing.

Mixed-income, affordable housing developer

Mixed-income and affordable housing development is the result of state affordable housing programs that incentivize builders with loans. Mixed-income housing reserves a portion of units for residents within certain income brackets to offer overall affordable housing for residents. This promotes economic diversity in an area. Mixed-income and affordable housing developers are economically minded, sometimes even nonprofit, and plan developments with the outlying area in mind: proximity to schools and jobs, for example.

How do you find affordable housing developers? Biscred identifies affordable housing as its own asset class, so a search for developers (industry) and affordable housing (asset class) produces 2,566 companies.

Senior housing, age-restricted developer 

There’s a broad range of age-restricted housing developments, from 55+ communities that only restrict the age of residents to assisted care facilities that have on-site staff and nursing care. Senior housing can sometimes be run by nonprofit organizations, but many are for-profit CRE with larger budgets and robust amenities for active senior living. Senior housing can range from a single building to an entire master-planned 55+ community.

How do you find age-restricted developers? Like affordable housing, senior housing is also its own asset class in Biscred. We set the search filters to industry = developer and asset class = senior living, and we find 2,175 companies.  

Student housing developer

For campus housing, dormitories, and off-campus student housing, student housing developers build with the goal of academic-year rentals for students attending colleges and universities. Besides the popularity around major state universities, student housing developers find frequent work near satellite campuses and smaller universities. Off-campus housing may be managed by the developer or investor, while on-campus housing may be developed in conjunction with the college. Getting on-campus or dorm development work may involve a bidding process for selecting developers, so having a lower-cost development plan can offer a competitive edge for these companies.

How do you find student housing developers? Student housing is its own asset class in Biscred’s database. We found 978 companies that develop student housing CRE.

CRE Developer Types by Asset Class 

For CRE-related businesses that offer services relevant to a specific asset class, developers who specialize in that class will be the most valuable leads. Note that CRE developers don’t always label themselves by asset class — searching by asset class filter rather than keyword will produce the most complete results in Biscred’s platform. 

Office 

Office developers build or redevelop existing property into office spaces. They may partner with a REIT (real estate investment trust), private equity, or another investor with the goal of creating a workspace that’s attractive for companies to lease. Some organizations are large enough to build their own offices tailored to their business goals. 

Office development requires modern amenities, HVAC, management services, security, and office spaces configurable to potential tenants. If it’s a coworking space, it may need to be fully furnished. Learn more about the types of office spaces to explore the services office developers may need.

Biscred’s database includes contact information and data for 8,859 companies that develop office CRE.   

Retail / shopping center

Another broad category, retail CRE development includes malls, strip malls, outlet centers, and more. A retail space is a commercial shopping property that may be secured by a large “anchor store” that draws consistent foot traffic (grocery stores, department stores). Other small businesses lease spaces near the anchor store in the hopes to benefit from the foot traffic the anchor store generates. 

Retail and shopping centers are sometimes redeveloped from offices or industrial spaces as mixed-use properties. Other times, retail or shopping center development is ground-up construction. Much like offices, retail spaces have to be attractive to potential renters and configurable to their businesses — that includes proximity to customers, major roads and good parking.

Biscred’s database includes information for 9,224 companies that develop retail CRE.

Mixed-use developer

Mixed-use assets combine retail, residential, and/or office spaces into a single multi-use property. For underperforming single-use properties, mixed-use development can be an attractive prospect for revitalizing a space without demolishing and starting from scratch. Ideally, mixed-use spaces have an ecosystem of live-work-play. Between 2012 and 2022 alone, mixed-use development more than tripled, according to the National Apartment Association.  

Mixed-use developers have all the concerns of office, multi-family, and retail developers plus the added challenge of creating a space attractive to all interested parties. Learn more about the mixed-use asset class. 

More than 7,100 CRE developers are in the Biscred database specializing in mixed-use development. 

Industrial 

An industrial property is used strictly for manufacturing, assembly, warehousing and distribution. Much like retail and shopping, this commercial asset can be owned by the company that uses the space, or it may be leased out (or a combination of owner-occupation and leased space). Some industrial developers specialize in properties with clean rooms, refrigerated spaces, hazardous materials, truck terminals and other niches. Learn more about the different types of industrial buildings. 

There are 6,258 industrial development firms in Biscred’s database.

Data center 

For data centers, construction and development is a growing segment driven by AI. Data centers have unique temperature-controlled requirements to house the computer components needed for data storage, processing, and operating AI models. Besides having to be located in strategic areas that have resources necessary for operating a data center, they also have unique construction, security, and HVAC requirements. Learn more about the growing data center real estate world.

Given how specialized data center CRE development is, it’s no surprise that there are fewer than 400 development firms — 365 to be exact — in Biscred’s prospecting database.  

Life sciences

Life sciences encompasses labs, R&D facilities, and manufacturing for biotech, medical, and food. Unlike an industrial warehouse, which can typically accommodate a wide range of tenants with minimal modification, a life sciences facility is highly specialized to the specific research or manufacturing being conducted in it. They’re usually very modern facilities that are sterile, temperature-controlled, and highly secure. Life sciences is a specialized type of development, and you can learn more about this asset class here. 

Biscred’s database includes contact information for 630 companies that specialize in life science commercial real estate development.

Healthcare 

Healthcare development is building or developing property to the requirements of hospitals, doctors’ offices, and specialty care facilities. Larger medical campuses may contract with healthcare CRE developers to develop new outpatient care facilities and large hospital campuses, while REITs may invest in a healthcare facility to be rented by a doctor’s practice or smaller clinics. Learn more about the healthcare asset class.

Biscred’s database includes 3,437 CRE developers with experience in healthcare properties. 

Hospitality

Hotels and resorts fall under the hospitality asset class and can range dramatically in scope. From motels to sprawling vacation resorts, hospitality development is centered around attracting visitors for things like vacations, celebrations and business conferences. A hospitality asset may have unique entertainment amenities like golf courses, pools, and shopping areas. Learn more about hospitality assets.

Biscred’s database lists 6,178 companies that operate in CRE hospitality development. 

Other CRE developers

Additional developer specializations exist within commercial real estate, including:

• Self storage facilities (temperature-controlled and not)

• Education (for colleges as well as K-12 learning)

• Energy

• Aviation

• Parking structures 

• Railroad (including warehousing or loading attached to a rail line)

• Infrastructure like sewage facilities, trash disposal, and other public spaces 

Find CRE Development Companies on Biscred

Growing your business and finding more CRE developers relevant to your specialty is made easy with Biscred. Biscred is the most comprehensive CRE-specific database that allows you to filter your search by CRE criteria like asset classes, industries, job roles and more. 

Not only can you find thousands of CRE developers, but also tens of thousands of individuals working in CRE development. Search by region, city, or state to narrow your search to just the contacts most relevant to your business. 

Set up a demo today to see how Biscred can grow your business.

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*Biscred continuously updates its CRE contact database. The number of contacts, companies and buildings changes regularly, as people change jobs and companies merge and grow. The numbers shared here are a snapshot in time. Schedule a demo to see the latest.