4 Acres on historic downtown strip (new to development)

[Colton T.]

I'm new to development and would like to sponge off of your wisdom regarding this situation:

I have 3.8 acres of raw land on the edge of a small/medium size town historic downtown strip (90k population). The strip has lots of retail / restaurants and as it gets closer to the edge, turns into historic housing (10s-20s craftsman homes). Many of which are converted to office spaces now.  This land is on the side of that. It's the first piece of land you pass pulling into downtown and cross the train tracks (from one direction). It has good frontage (about 475 ft) and is sort of triangular in shape, going from narrow to wide as you drive past it. 

To me, the most exciting (for the city and for the owners) option would be some retail space, maybe 17,500-20,000 sq ft of rentable space for tenants such as a restaurant or sandwich shop, a dentist/salon, a boutique gym, niche retail, etc.  Also, I have other retail properties and experience managing them, so the finished product wouldn't be out of my comfort zone. What would be the best way to go about figuring out how well-located this land is for something of that product type before getting to far along?

As I said, frontage is good. Lots of traffic all day on the road coming in and out of town. However, it's on the edge of the strip and doesn't touch the other retail products, there is housing between us and the strip, so this is my main reason for questioning the product type.

I appreciate your ideas and feedback.

Thanks,

Colton