Historic 70 Unit Apartments

[Luke Easley]

In my city there is a historic 70 unit apartment that’s famous for its design and mid century modern architectural style. It’s a solid concrete building but windows are busted out and trees are grown up all around it and squatters have been in and out. It’s in a prime downtown area that is in the midst of revitalization boom. But many people have complained over the years because it makes the area look bad because of the state of the property. But no one has bought it yet. It has been under contract several times over the years but they never panned out.

Although I'm not sure yet, let's just say the numbers look good, and there would be several tax breaks from the city because it's historic. How do I get started? I'm new to REI. I haven't gotten official estimates, but say the total cost of the project would likely be around 3 mil.

Do I need a commercial real estate agent?

How do I find contractors that work these kind of properties? Most of the contractors I know work mostly on small multi family and SFH.

Who manages the project to make sure the work is good and each unit is designed nicely. These would be higher end units.

Should I get a partner that has experience with this?

Do I hire an architect team to present the development to the city for approval?

Once completed, do I hire a full time employee to manage? Or use a management company?

I understand this is a large undertaking for a newbie. I have talked with several interested private lenders that would lend for smaller units that I have been looking at, but I haven’t asked if they could do larger projects.

Should I use hard money or private funds and BRRRR this project?

So many questions!