SENIOR DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY for complex real estate projects
EXPERIENCE to find the angle outside the standard playbook
YOU MAY NOT NEED another full-time hire
FRAME Advisory works with developers, landowners, investors, and project teams when a project needs clearer direction, stronger alignment, or senior leadership without adding a full-time executive.
We help owners and project teams connect strategy, approvals, design, capital, and market positioning and carry that work through to what it actually takes to make a project viable, financeable, buildable, and ready for market.
Engagements are project-based, fractional, advisory, or embedded, shaped around what the project actually needs.
Complex projects need more than just coordination.
They need senior judgment, structure, and someone who can connect the decisions that matter, before getting them wrong becomes too costly to fix.
01
The project was designed for another market.
The fundamentals may still be strong. But the capital environment shifted, the target market moved, and the assumptions that shaped the project haven’t been tested against today’s reality.
FRAME helps identify holds and what needs to change
02
You need senior leadership, not another full-time hire.
Your team is capable. The project is demanding. Some moments require a different level of experience in the room — without the overhead of a permanent executive hire.
FRAME stepts in through fractional, advisory, owner’s representation, or embedded mandates, exacrly where and when it’s needed.
03
Project complexity is multiplying. The issues have their own issues.
And that is before you add landowners with different objectives, agencies working through separate mandates, municipal requirements that do not always align neatly, and internal teams trying to hold the whole thing together.
FRAME helps bring those layers into focus, so the team can see what is actually driving the risk and move forward.
04
The project is moving but the decisions aren’t getting clearer.
Drawings are advancing, consultants are meeting, approvals are progressing — but the key choices are still unresolved
FRAME helps identidy what needs to be decided, where the trade-off sit, and how to get the project back on a clear path.
05
The approvals are advancing but the project hasn’t been tested against today’s realities.
Zoning may be in place. Policy may support the project. But viability isn’t approval — it’s whether the land, infrastructure, capital, design, and market can actually work together.
FRAME helps owners stress-test assumptions before the decision get expensive to reverse.
The project was designed for another market.
The fundamentals may still be strong. But the capital environment shifted, the target market moved, and the assumptions that shaped the project haven’t been tested against today’s reality.
FRAME helps identify holds and what needs to change
You need senior leadership, not another full-time hire.
Your team is capable. The project is demanding. Some moments require a different level of experience in the room — without the overhead of a permanent executive hire.
FRAME stepts in through fractional, advisory, owner’s representation, or embedded mandates, exacrly where and when it’s needed.
Project complexity is multiplying. The issues have their own issues.
And that is before you add landowners with different objectives, agencies working through separate mandates, municipal requirements that do not always align neatly, and internal teams trying to hold the whole thing together.
FRAME helps bring those layers into focus, so the team can see what is actually driving the risk and move forward.
The project is moving but the decisions aren’t getting clearer.
Drawings are advancing, consultants are meeting, approvals are progressing — but the key choices are still unresolved
FRAME helps identidy what needs to be decided, where the trade-off sit, and how to get the project back on a clear path.
The approvals are advancing but the project hasn’t been tested against today’s realities.
Zoning may be in place. Policy may support the project. But viability isn’t approval — it’s whether the land, infrastructure, capital, design, and market can actually work together.
FRAME helps owners stress-test assumptions before the decision get expensive to reverse.
Sometimes you need senior experience in the room without a full-time hire. Sometimes you need someone to carry the project on behalf of the owner through a critical phase. FRAME can do both. FRAME provides owner-side development leadership on a…
Development Strategy
FRAME helps clients build the development strategy that connects the opportunity to the approval path, the capital structure, the design direction, and the market reality…before those decisions become expensive to revisit. This is the work of connecting land, capital, design,…
Entitlements and approvals
It requires understanding the full picture — what the municipality needs, what the project can absorb, what the infrastructure will support, and where there is genuine room to move. FRAME brings owner-side leadership to the entitlements process; connecting approval strategy…
Project Positioning + Strategy
The success of a project is often determined before the drawings are advanced. FRAME helps clients define what a project should be, who it is for, and how it should be positioned — against the competitive landscape and the real…
Design + Sales Alignment
A project that is well positioned strategically still needs to be designed for the customer who is actually going to buy, lease or rent it. FRAME works with owners and design teams to translate market data and customer insight into…
Governance and decision support
FRAME brings structure to that moment — framing the issues, clarifying the trade-offs, and giving boards, ownership groups, and investment committees what they need to move forward with confidence. Complex development gets stuck when decision-making is unclear: when authority is…
Platform + Growth Strategy
FRAME also supports design, consulting, and development-related firms that need to clarify where they can win and how they show up in the market. This work connects positioning, business development, client targeting, pursuit strategy, internal structure, and team capability. It…
Fractional Leadership + Owner’s Representation
Senior development leadership, brought in at the right moment.
Sometimes you need senior experience in the room without a full-time hire. Sometimes you need someone to carry the project on behalf of the owner through a critical phase. FRAME can do both.
FRAME provides owner-side development leadership on a project-based, fractional, advisory, or embedded basis. The role is shaped around what the project or organization actually needs: strategic oversight, team alignment, issue resolution, decision support, or targeted leadership through execution.
This is for owners, investors, landowners, and project teams who need experienced development capacity without adding unnecessary overhead.
Acting as owner’s representative on complex development projects
Providing fractional senior development leadership to internal teams
Structuring project strategy, priorities, workplans, and decision paths
Coordinating consultants and aligning workstreams
Supporting owner, board, and investment committee reporting
Identifying what is stuck, what is misaligned, and what needs to move first
Leading targeted workstreams through approvals, design, procurement, execution, or transition
Helping internal teams stay focused, accountable, and aligned around the project vision
You have a capable team, but they are stretched
You have a project that needs senior attention, but not a permanent executive hire
You need someone who can move between the details and the bigger picture
You need an owner-side voice that understands approvals, design, market positioning, financial performance, and delivery
You need someone who can bring people together, structure the work, and keep the project moving
The best development strategies are built with one eye on what the project could become and one eye on what it will actually take to get it approved, financed, and built.
FRAME helps clients build the development strategy that connects the opportunity to the approval path, the capital structure, the design direction, and the market reality…before those decisions become expensive to revisit.
This is the work of connecting land, capital, design, and market strategy around the decisions that determine whether the project gets built and how it succeeds.
Site feasibility and due diligence
Highest-and-best-use analysis
Project concept and development approach
Capital strategy alignment
Market positioning and competitive analysis
Sales and marketing strategy
Phasing and implementation planning
Project retesting and realignment under changed market or capital conditions
A site is being evaluated and the development approach is not yet defined
The project assumptions were built for a different capital environment or market and need to be retested
Entitlements, capital, design, and market strategy need to be aligned before decisions get expensive to reverse
The project needs a clearer thesis before more time and capital are committed the project moving
Getting through approvals is rarely just a planning exercise.
It requires understanding the full picture — what the municipality needs, what the project can absorb, what the infrastructure will support, and where there is genuine room to move.
FRAME brings owner-side leadership to the entitlements process; connecting approval strategy to infrastructure, phasing, financial viability, and delivery, so the project that gets approved is also the project that can get built.
Municipal negotiation and stakeholder alignment
Rezoning through to building permits
Infrastructure, servicing, access, and phasing alignment
Rental replacement and tenant-impact strategy
Landowner group representation
Policy interpretation and approval pathway strategy
Approval condition strategy and implementation planning
The site is complicated and the approval path is not clear
Infrastructure, servicing, or phasing issues are affecting viability
Rental replacement, landowner coordination, or multi-agency alignment is adding complexity
The project needs someone who can negotiate constructively, understand the public-sector context, and keep the work grounded in private-sector reality
Define the right project before the work goes too far.
The success of a project is often determined before the drawings are advanced.
FRAME helps clients define what a project should be, who it is for, and how it should be positioned — against the competitive landscape and the real conditions of the market — before more time and capital are committed.
This work is especially valuable when a site is being evaluated, repositioned, relaunched, redesigned, or reconsidered under new market, capital, or approval
Site and opportunity framing
Project vision and concept strategy
Product definition — building type, tenure, mix, scale
Market alignment and competitive positioning
Initial design brief and consultant direction
Project narrative/charter and value story
Alignment between owner objectives, market demand, approval context, and financialassumptions
The site has potential but the project direction is not clear
The original concept no longer fits the market or the capital environment
The project needs a stronger identity before approvals, financing, sales, leasing, or partnership conversations
The team needs to define what the project is before committing more time and capital
A project that is well positioned strategically still needs to be designed for the customer who is actually going to buy, lease or rent it.
FRAME works with owners and design teams to translate market data and customer insight into specific design decisions such as floorplan mix, suite sizes, interior direction, amenity programming, and a user oriented sales experience — so the project is hyper targeted and curated for the people most likely to choose it.
Market analytics and research can be provided by the client or sourced through FRAME. What FRAME brings is the judgment to interpret that data and translate it into design and sales decisions that will actually land.
Unit mix and floorplan optimization
Suite size and efficiency review
Interior concept and amenity strategy
Product strategy and refinement for a defined buyer or renter profile
Sales centre and presentation centre direction
Customer journey and resident experience thinking
Design brief development
Alignment between design, market demand, cost, constructability, and proforma assumptions
The design is advancing but the target customer isn’t clearly defined
The unit mix, floorplans, or amenity program need to be calibrated to a specific market segment
The sales or leasing experience needs to be as intentional as the building itself
The team needs someone who can speak both development and design without losing sight of cost, constructability, or revenue
The hardest part of complex development isn't always the project. Sometimes it's getting the right people aligned around the right decision.
FRAME brings structure to that moment — framing the issues, clarifying the trade-offs, and giving boards, ownership groups, and investment committees what they need to move forward with confidence.
Complex development gets stuck when decision-making is unclear: when authority is distributed, trade-offs aren’t well framed, or the people who need to decide don’t have what they need to act.
Issue framing and recommendation memos
Board and investment committee materials
Decision frameworks for critical milestones
Governance and authority mapping
Trade-off framing across approvals, design, delivery, capital, and financial performance
Risk framing and issue escalation
Stakeholder alignment
Support for leadership conversations where competing priorities need to be reconciled
There are too many unresolved decisions
The board, ownership group, capital partner, or executive team needs a clearer path forward
The project team is capable but the decision structure is unclear
People are working hard but decisions are not converging
Growth strategy for AEC firms that need sharper market direction
FRAME also supports design, consulting, and development-related firms that need to clarify where they can win and how they show up in the market.
This work connects positioning, business development, client targeting, pursuit strategy, internal structure, and team capability. It comes from operator experience — from having sat on the other side of the table and knowing what actually wins work.
It is especially relevant for firms looking to grow private-market work, enter a new market, reposition their services, or align their internal teams around a more focused growth strategy.
Business development diagnostics
Private-market growth strategy
Client targeting and pursuit planning
Brand-position alignment
Sector and service-line focus
Proposal and pursuit strategy
Internal workflow and team structure review
Leadership alignment around market priorities
Support translating firm strengths into a clearer external narrative
The firm has strong talent but an unclear market position
Business development is too reactive
The brand does not fully reflect the firm’s ambition or capability
Leadership needs a clearer plan for where to focus, who to pursue, and how to grow
PROOF THAT COMES FROM WORKING THROUGH THE HARD PARTS.
FRAME is built on more than 20 years of experience across development, planning, architecture, approvals, design strategy, and city-building.
The throughline is not project type. It is problem solving and leadership the ability to bring structure and process to complex situations, align people and decisions around a clear vision, and keep the work moving when the path forward is not obvious.
FRAME’S work experience in practice.
A few examples of what that’s looked like on the ground
Complex urban redevelopment across multi-phase, multi-owner sites — with rental replacement, infrastructure, phasing, and financial viability at the centre of every decision.
Project reframing and turnaround when the original concept no longer held — rebuilding confidence, reshaping the story, and carrying the work through to delivery.
Entitlements and stakeholder alignment across complex municipal environments — negotiating constructively, resolving competing priorities, and keeping the project grounded in private-sector reality.
Design and market positioning: connecting built form, interiors, amenity strategy, and customer experience to financial performance and market demand.
Platform and business growth building teams, opening markets, launching divisions, and helping firms clarify where and how they can win.
LED BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO FIND THE PATH THROUGH.
FRAMEAdvisory was founded by Salima Kheraj, a senior real estate development strategist with more than 20 years of experience across development, approvals, design strategy, and business leadership.
She is strongest in the parts of a project that don’t fit neatly into one consultant’s scope – the messy parts, the political parts, the moments where the obvious answer isn’t good enough. What sets her apart is not just the tenacity to stay with those problems, but the creativity to come at them differently. She tends to find the angle outside of the standard playbook.
Whether you’re rethinking a project, navigating layered approvals, aligning a team, or looking for senior development leadership without a full-time hire. You don’t need to have the full scope figured out before reaching out.
Sometimes the first conversation is simply about understanding where things stand today, what feels unresolved, and whether FRAME can help.
If the project is complex, stalled, shifting, or entering a critical decision point, let’s talk.
