Advice on offer for almost completed mixed-use building in legal mess

[Devin Marlowe]

Hi Everyone,

I have had my eye on a commercial property located on Vancouver Island, in a smaller area slated for growth in the coming years. As far as I know, its a 6 unit residential with commercial space on the ground floor. The building began construction in 2011 but stalled in early 2012 and has been sitting in its nearly completed state since. I'll attach a picture of it below. 

I, with great difficulty, tracked down the owner of this property and got a pretty good understanding of what happened to it. There were/are 5 lawsuits against the owner for failure to pay. Various contractors and companies have filed against the owner for sums from $8,000 - $40,000.

I spoke with the owner and asked that he meet with me and talk about selling me the property to finish with my small team. We are more geared towards residential single family homes, but this building seems to only require some minor exterior work to be completed, clearly with more investigation needed.

Obviously the owner has had some legal trouble, and is agreeable to selling the property. The first time I spoke with him he said "Sell it? Sure. How much are you thinking? Make me an offer." I told him I would need to consult with my team and look at the place inside before coming to any kind of offers.

Im hoping to get the opinion of members here on how you might proceed in a case like this. I think I will need some diplomacy and some delicacy here as this guy has been burned by this building and likely wants to get rid of it and make as much as possible. There are also going to likely be a few legal snags that will need working out.
How would you approach finding a number for an offer in a case like this? Does anyone have experience purchasing a building that has gone through legal issues like this one? 

Thanks very much everyone, this community is an absolute godsend for me.

-Devin