1031 Exchange Ideas - Land Sale to Investment

[Garrett Kuhn]

To make a long story short, a friend of mine's family has received interest in their farmland from developers. If they are to sell the land, they would come into some money that they had previously not had access to. With capital gains taxes they would like to explore the option of a 1031 exchange. Currently, their land serves as an investment property. From my understanding, you can only 1031 similar assets. Their questions are: 

They know in this competitive market it is hard enough to find one good deal. BUT, is it possible to 1031 exchange one investment property into multiple investments? (multiple SF, duplexes, AirBNBs, blend, etc.) 

They are tentative, with the recent pandemic, of throwing all of their proceeds from the sale at one large investment. IF you can not exchange one property for multiple, would one singular investment property be ideal? 

Lastly, if you were in their shoes, what sector of real estate would you research to possibly invest in? 

Thank you in advance for your insight. Love hearing different perspectives.