Adding a 2nd floor to a block building for STR lofts mixed use

[Tammi Bieniek]

Hello!  We have a lease option to buy a concrete block building downtown.  A casino is coming to our town, I already bought a quirky round house and a triplex to do medium and short term stays.

My daughter has a thriving flower business in the shop downtown.  Its concrete block, has a flat roof and has a full basement that I will be using for a small soap shop, so its 1600sf on 2 lots.   It's also in a Opportunity Zone which I don't know that much about. 

My idea was to add a couple of lofts on the building to do STR. Her place is between the Historic downtown that's touristy and the new casino resort. It has a large back yard that I would also like to make pretty and add a Airstream for STR , that will be phase 3 or 4. lol!

My question is:  how do I go about to do this?   what would be the first steps?  I'm hoping that we don't need to demolish the building, maybe do footers around it and blend it the exterior somehow?

The building we are buying for $125,000 and the lofts I would like to make 2 studios approximately 500 sf each with an enclosed stairway keyless keypad for the steps, small deck for each loft that looks unto the street.

Financing?  Would banks loan on the existing building and construction?, or is this a property I would need to raise funds for? Private investor?

There was a BP podcast about a couple that did lots of downtown renovating, I've searched, yet can't find it.  Please drop in the comments if you remember which one.