Young and Ready

[Zachary Ngai]

Hi Everyone, 

I am a young professional from New York. I want to build an apartment building in a small town in Ohio mainly to learn the ropes of real estate development. What I am looking to build is a 4 story, multi-unit apartment building with commercial space on the first and second floor. The third and fourth floor will be residential housing for neighboring college students. I would like to lease the first floor to an entertainment company and lease the second floor to a healthy restaurant. I am just starting out, but that does not mean I cannot accomplish much. I want to learn as much as I can about the industry. I have talked to the head of economic development of the city and he talked to me about the zoning codes and limitations of constructing a new building. We are limited to a 4-story building. I know that I now need to talk to an architect and a contractor. I am looking for any advice on where to go from here. 

[Matthew King]

@Zachary Ngai Congrats on the plan!  Talking with the Economic Development director was a good preliminary step. I am assuming that you have the parcel of land under your control and that it is zoned appropriately. In my opinion, the first step is financing. Do you have a budget and a lender in place? Next would be engaging an architect to develop drawings so that you can bid the project out to contractors along with obtaining the necessary city approvals. Once you have the financing in place, plans drawn and approved, permits pulled and contractor selected a ground breaking ceremony will be in your near future!  Good Luck and hopefully the small college town is my alma mater of Bowling Green!