01
Land and entitlement
Site selection, zoning and land entitlement, planned from the first conversation with the city.
Advisory · Fractional Chief Investment Officer
A principal in the seat, not a consultant on the sidelines.
Gene Ventura and Mark Molinaro advise on every part of a development, from land entitlement to the pro forma budget. Gene advises owners and investors on senior housing as an operator-first advisor, and serves development companies as a fractional Chief Investment Officer.
Development advisory · Gene Ventura and Mark Molinaro
From land entitlement to pro forma budget
A developer and an architect with 35 years of building in Chicago and Wisconsin. We advise on a project at any stage, or join it as co-GP.
02
Pro forma and budget
Development budgets and pro formas built to the standard lenders and equity partners expect.
03
City planning
We sit with you in city planning meetings. Mark is an NCARB-certified architect, registered in seven states and eligible for licensure in others by reciprocity.
04
Problem developments
We dissect stalled and troubled projects: what went wrong, what it will take to fix, and how to get it built.
05
Ground-up retail
Our specialty: seven centers on the Highway 50 and I-94 corridor, the first three Starbucks drive-thrus in Southeast Wisconsin and a single-tenant Best Buy.
06
Co-GP
On the right project, we join the sponsor as co-general partner, as Gene did on 1.5 million square feet of Chicago office.
Senior housing advisory
Operator first. The best operator always wins over the best location.
Gene is an operator-first advisor. He was trained by some of the best operators in senior housing, and his work with Kayne Anderson Real Estate, one of the largest private equity investors in U.S. senior housing, taught him to underwrite a community the way an operator runs it.
- Kayne Anderson Real Estate. Represented the firm in its $39M purchase of Casa Sandoval, a 235-bed community in Hayward, California (2019).
- USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Certification in Aging and Seniors Housing, 2018.
- Published. A nationally published writer on the senior housing industry.
- Demand studies. Is there real demand for the community you plan to build or buy, and at what price?
- Community tours. Gene physically tours the communities, yours and the competition.
- Operations audits. An in-depth audit of how the community is run.
- Underwriting and performance. Underwrite the community and analyze how it is performing.
- Acquisitions and sales. Advice to owners and investors on buying and selling communities.
Fractional Chief Investment Officer · What the role covers
The work a CIO does, without the full-time salary
01
Capital strategy
Structure the stack of senior debt, joint-venture equity and LP capital, and set the order of the raise.
02
Lenders and equity
Bring relationship banks and equity partners into the deal, and run the process through to term sheets.
03
Sites and acquisitions
Find the site, negotiate the purchase and line up the land financing.
04
Underwriting and materials
Pro formas, market studies and offering memoranda built to institutional standards, with AI-assisted analysis behind them.
05
Design and the city
With Mark Molinaro and Partners in Design, carry the plan through design, value engineering and city approval.
06
Senior housing
Program and capital strategy for 55+, independent and assisted living, backed by USC gerontology training and a $39M acquisition record.
Case study · Petra, LLC
Black Hawk Ridge, Kenosha
Petra, a Wichita investment group, needed a partner on the ground in Wisconsin. Gene sourced a 100-acre infill site, negotiated the purchase, sourced Wintrust for the land financing, and found the apartment buyer before closing.
About 20 acres were sold to Continental Properties in 2026, which began building 336 apartments. The rest of the land is planned for workforce townhomes and single-family homes.
100acres sourced and acquired for the client
≈ 20acres sold to a national apartment developer
336apartments under construction
Wintrustland lender, sourced by Gene
How an engagement works
Clear scope, a monthly retainer, a principal in the room
Step 1
Intro call
We look at the site, the stack and the timeline, and decide whether there is a fit.
Step 2
Scope and retainer
A written scope and a monthly retainer. Every engagement starts with the retainer in place.
Step 3
In the seat
Weekly team meetings, lender and investor outreach, underwriting and materials.
Step 4
Reporting
Monthly reports and quarterly reviews against the capital plan.
Ventura Capital Ai is not a registered broker-dealer or investment adviser. Where an engagement requires those services, they are provided by appropriately registered firms under separate agreements.