Converting Commercial space to Apartments

[Joshua Matowitz]

Anyone had any experience converting downtown commercial space into apartments?  I'm interested in getting a multi-leveled building that has been used as retail and office space right in the heart of a downtown and converting the space into modern apartments for professionals/executives and/or younger/hip crowd.  interested in the start-to-finish as it relates to funding, first and foremost, and then everything else.  TIA