North Star Truck Stop Light sites
Turning experience into cash-flow logistics projects
North Star applies site-selection and national freight-market experience to create controlled logistics projects for capable operating and capital partners. We begin with the business plan, the customer and traffic case, the operating partner, and a defined path to financing or sale. Once those are in place, Pursuit Capital pays for selecting and controlling the right property. When project funding comes in, the pursuit money is repaid and the participant keeps the success return.
This page explains the early property-search capital and its contractual return. The companion business page explains the three project paths, party responsibilities, North Star compensation, and the calculator behind the operating illustration.
The return
How the participant makes money
| Project outcome | Return of Pursuit Capital | Return above capital |
|---|---|---|
| Travel center first | All Pursuit Capital advanced is repaid from project funding | Cash equal to 10% of North Star's collected 3% development fee: $45,000 on a $15 million project, $60,000 on a $20 million project |
| Truck Stop Light keeps operating | All Pursuit Capital advanced is repaid before residual cash is divided | Continuing 10% of distributable cash flow: about $50,600 in the prior two-year hold and exit illustration |
| Truck Stop Light becomes a travel center | Pursuit Capital has already been repaid | 10% cash flow while Truck Stop Light operates, then a cash purchase of the remaining participation at conversion |
Where the $50,600 comes from: in the prior two-year hold and exit illustration, the residual distributable-cash pool is $506,167. The outside participant's share of that pool is 10%. $506,167 x 10% = $50,616.70, rounded to about $50,600. It is the participant's share of residual cash, not a payment of the whole pool and not a share of gross revenue. The figure is produced by the companion calculator under its illustrative base-case assumptions.
The last column is paid in addition to the return of the capital advanced. The pursuit money comes back when the project is funded, and the success participation remains. Illustrative figures. Actual results follow the property, operating performance, timing, capital structure, and final project agreements.
Use of funds
What it takes to pursue one interchange
The base cost starts the property work. Ancillary costs are added when the pursuit reaches the point where they are useful.
| Cost | Amount | What it pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Base pursuit cost | $25,000 | North Star's interchange analysis, property comparison, owner contact, preliminary feasibility, negotiation, and coordination |
| Outside expenses | Initially budgeted up to $10,000, adjustable | Travel, title research, access review, engineering, environmental screening, and legal review |
| Earnest money | Property-specific | Initial control of the selected property |
The $10,000 outside-expense figure is a preliminary allowance, not a fixed engineering budget and not a cap. For a basic gravel Truck Stop Light yard, it covers limited outside work. Examples are a rough civil layout and enough preliminary information for an initial planning and zoning discussion. If the municipality, civil engineer, or site conditions call for more work, the amount can increase with approval. Final civil plans, additional engineering, and any needed soils or other investigation are separate, site-specific costs.
A typical target is about 15 acres near $50,000 an acre, an indicated land price around $750,000. Earnest money of 1% to 2% runs about $7,500 to $15,000. Earnest money is funded when North Star has a property worth controlling and a negotiated contract to approve.
Selection
How North Star selects the property
We start with the interchange, not a favorite parcel. If six properties can work, we study six. If only two can work, the market may already be too developed or too expensive.
| Step | What North Star does |
|---|---|
| 1. Map the market | Identify every property with enough land and workable truck access |
| 2. Compare the properties | Check price, ownership, access, utilities, zoning, drainage, environmental conditions, and room to grow |
| 3. Talk to the owners | Determine who will sell, on what terms, and with what investigation period |
| 4. Control the best site | Put the strongest property under contract while preserving practical alternatives |
If the first property falls away, North Star can move to another candidate at the same interchange using unspent money and recovered deposits. This is ordinary professional site selection. Walmart's published process follows the same sequence: define the need, compare properties, perform diligence, negotiate, and select the site.
The 10%
How the Truck Stop Light cash is divided
Project capital is returned and the Capital Partner receives its 8% preferred return. The remaining distributable cash is then divided:
| Participant | Share of distributable cash |
|---|---|
| Capital Partner | 70% |
| North Star | 20% |
| Pursuit Capital participant | 10% |
Distributable cash is the money available after operating expenses, debt service, required reserves, return of project capital, and the Capital Partner's preferred return. For each party's role, see Who does what; for how the three project paths differ, see Three ways forward.
Conversion
When Truck Stop Light becomes a travel center
The participant receives the 10% distributions while Truck Stop Light operates. At conversion, an independent valuation firm determines the present value of the remaining 10% cash-flow participation, and the Capital Partner purchases it for cash. The participant is paid for the operating income being given up.
North Star's separate 2% project ownership rolls into the travel-center project. The Pursuit Capital participant receives cash for its separate Truck Stop Light participation. For the full treatment of every interest at conversion, see Treatment by interest at conversion.
One interchange
One pursuit covers one interchange
Each interchange is chosen to fit the established business and capital plan. The base pursuit cost covers North Star's work for that interchange and every reasonable property there. Outside expenses and earnest money are added as the pursuit requires them. Unspent money and recovered deposits can move to another candidate within the same interchange. When the interchange produces a project, the participation attaches to it. A different interchange begins with a new agreement and a new capital decision.
Summary
What the participant receives
The participant provides the agreed funding. North Star and the project partners select the site, negotiate control, develop the project, arrange the project capital, and operate the business. The participant receives repayment of all Pursuit Capital advanced when the project is funded, the success return for the project path, periodic financial and operating reports, and the agreed valuation and cash-payment rights at conversion.
The proposition is straightforward: fund the work that turns a promising interchange into a controlled project, get the pursuit money back when the project is funded, and keep a share of the value created.