Three family: Garage question

[Meryl C]

i own a high quality (B plus) 3- family in Western MA. The building is very nice, but the one-car garage is in rough shape. It's probably borderline about whether to renovate or replace. A contractor came out today and said it would cost roughly "at least 10k to 12k" to attend to the structural and other main issues, not including removing and replacing the crumbling concrete foundation, replacing mechanical door, side door, painting, plus anything that reveals itself once he's into the work etc. So I'm thinking that the total will be in the mid-20 range. Seems like i may be able to get it demoed and replaced, including new foundation, for something like 35k to 40kish. I plan to own it for 3 to 10 more years and then condo the whole thing, including the garage.

The third option is to take it down and not replace it. We have only 4 parking spots, for the 3 units, all in a line along the left side of the driveway. We could probably get at least one more spot out of it if we don't replace the garage, but i'm guessing the demo, removal and then creating a parking pad will still cost 7 to 10k.


My questions are these:

1) Does that price for repair (around 25k for a good renovation) seem reasonable for the northeast?
2) With the future plan to sell, would it make more sense to just get rid of the existing garage and build a new one?
3) With limited parking, is it worth entertaining the idea of just killing the garage?
4) What would YOU do?

Many thanks!
Meryl

[Colleen F.]

@Meryl C I can't answer on the price. The suggestion of another unit you can check out but often in New England the garage won't meet current setbacks. You can replace a structure but you could likely not do a complete demo if you want to retain the garage and it is non-conforming (doesn't meet current setbacks and such). You lose the ability to put it back with a complete demo in some areas when it is non-conforming. Make sure you consider that. 

An owner occupant would want a garage and if you condo it then the garage unit would be more value.  If it stays completely a rental and you are in a heavy rental area where parking is at a premium you could charge for the extra parking. You also could charge for the garage. I would go with the garage if it can be rebuilt. Connect electric to the common electric for a garage.  If you got 3 additional offstreet parking spaces I might just do parking but I doubt that is the case.