Land Acquisition · Entitlement · Site Development · Construction Management
Land Acquisition · Entitlement · Site Development · Construction Management
The Friesen family's connection to Pacific Northwest land goes back generations.
Ernest R. Friesen built Friesen Lumber Co. out of Salem, Oregon, running sawmills at Sweet Home, St. Helens, and Moclips, Washington, with shared interests in Lebanon, Oregon and Crescent City, California. At its peak the company operated across two states and five mill locations during the height of the Pacific Northwest timber boom in the 1950s and early 1960s. Ernest knew land the way serious operators do. Not as an abstraction, but as something you study carefully, acquire deliberately, and work hard. He sold the company in 1965.
His grandson Dan Friesen never worked in lumber. The instinct though, find the land, understand it, build something worth building from it, carried forward.
Dan has 25 years in the built environment, working across construction, development, and land.
He started in the field building assisted living and memory care facilities across Oregon, Washington, and California for JEA Senior Living through Erwin Construction. He spent time in the mid-2000s playing music professionally, came back to the industry in 2009, and spent the next six years building residential homes.
In 2017 he joined Romano Capital as a QA/QC Manager, working directly with their construction operations and managing the relationship with 2 Creeks Construction. He moved into project management the following year and played a central role in building Cedars Construction into Romano's primary residential builder. By 2021 he had built Romano's development team from scratch and was named Director of Development. From 2018 through 2024 he managed all Romano development projects, either directly or as department head, across residential, commercial, and mixed-use. In 2024 the focus shifted to developing single-family subdivision lots for sale to regional and national builders, alongside a growing rental subdivision portfolio. Projects include Boulder Ridge in Camas, The Crossings in Ridgefield, Pioneer East, Terra Lofts, Riverside Townhomes, 2 Creeks Condominiums, The Oliveen, and The Nines at Camas Meadows.
Dan is quick to credit his time at Romano Capital as a major influence on how he works. Learning how Kess puts deals together and seeing that you can be profitable and be fair and ethical throughout the transaction shapes a lot of how Dan approaches this business.
He launched Friesen Land Co. in 2026.
After 25 years Dan will tell you the land itself is rarely the hard part. The relationships are what make or break a project. Landowners need to know their property is in good hands. Jurisdictions and planning departments work better with people who show up prepared and say what they mean. Engineers, consultants, and contractors do their best work when the client communicates clearly and treats them like partners.
Friesen Land Co. works that way across the board. Direct, consistent, no surprises. If there's a problem you'll hear about it early, not after it's grown into something bigger.
Friesen Land Co. provides land development advisory services across the Portland metro area in Oregon and Washington.
Site identification, market feasibility, risk analysis, regulatory due diligence, PSA negotiations, and closing coordination. We help clients buy the right land at the right terms.
Land use applications, rezoning, conditional use permits, variances, and design review across Oregon and Washington jurisdictions. We manage the full timeline from pre-application through final approval.
Owner's representative services through the site development phase, coordinating civil engineers, surveyors, geotechnical consultants, and public agencies from permit through AHJ final acceptance.
Project oversight from permitting through certificate of occupancy for residential and commercial projects. Contractor procurement, schedule management, budget tracking, and draw request review.
On select transactions Friesen Land Co. will partner on projects to put its own capital to work alongside clients and its capital partners.
Friesen Land Co. works with landowners, developers, and capital partners across the Portland metro. If you have a project or parcel you want to talk through, get in touch.