What would you with a 10,000 S/F Industrial/Warehouse Building

[Julio Puentes]

Hello BP Community! Reaching out to this community for advice/guidance and ideas on what I should or can do with a 10,000 S/F industrial building I already own and is paid off. 

Background: I am currently the owner of a 10,0000 s/f industrial building/warehouse that is sectioned off into 3 different units. I am by no means and experienced property manger or real estate investor, just trying to figure this out as I go.  The building is completely paid off, and probably worth anywhere from $400K-$500K. I along with my uncle's daughters, we inherited the building as both my father and uncle have both passed away. My uncle and father were brothers and business partners who purchased the building and ran a successful auto body repair business for over 20 years in a primarily immigrant community in the SW of Chicago. Before passing, my father sold off the business but rented out the building. I continue to manage the building where I have three tenants who continue to operate auto repair businesses. The building itself, is a solid mason constructed brick building, about 90 years of age. I do have repair concerns as I know that I need a new roof, and perhaps some interior remodeling to do.  I am saving as much as I can from my rental income to make immediate necessary repairs, and eventually replace the roof.  Due to high risk factors I am pretty certain a bank will not finance a loan on the equity, nor will I find a financed buyer. 

My first consideration is to sell the property, but because I am certain a bank will not finance a potential buyer, my option would be to find a cash buyer or owner finance the sale. My father and uncle purchased the building through direct owner finance.

My second thought is to continue renting the building which collects a gross revenue around 70K per year. In order to find higher paying tenants, I would need to seriously invest and modernize the building to find a higher grossing business that would want to set up shop there. 

My third option that I have been seriously thinking about is what kind of business I can operate out of this building given that I own it. I have this resource but I have no idea what I can do with it. Sure, I currently have tenants that provide a somewhat steady income, but I have had my share of headaches with tenants and I just recently had to evict a tenant a few months ago. All three units are currently occupied, but I want to start preparing for when I have my next vacancy that instead of renting it out, I can use the space myself for a new business, and perhaps down the line consolidate all three units if necessary. The community I am in is inundated with cheap auto repair businesses. I want to move away from that. The zoning for the building is manufacturing/industrial. Although I spent most of my youth working with my dad in his auto repair shop, I unfortunately did not pick up any skills on how to repair cars. In addition, I am in my mid 30s, and feel like I don/t have a business bone in me. I have a white collar job with a good salary and great benefits, but I am tired of the desk job and can't seem to forget my father's words, "there is nothing better that to be your own boss." I am blessed to have this asset that both my father and uncle worked so hard for to achieve, and I feel that there is so much more I could be doing with it to live up to their sacrifice. Thank you for taking the time to read this long post, and greatly appreciate any advice you can provide. Also, if there are any other threads I should post this message, please let me know. Thanks!