Want to Repurpose Parents Land into Multifamily, Where to Start?

Question

Out of curiosity, I went to the city planning site where my parents current home is and it turns out that they own the lot behind them as well and had no idea! There house is in poor shape and I've been suggesting that they consider repurposing the land to replace their home with a few multifamily units. The land is awkwardly shaped but is accessible by two roads. The city planning department told me that we could place multifamily units on the land as long as it met setback guidelines and access to water/sewage etc.

The challenge is where do I start? Would love feedback from anyone that has experience or perspective on this. Should I contact an architect/engineer to give options on how to best use the land?

I've attached an aerial image of the land. Would love any feedback!

The challenge is where do I start?  Would love feedback from anyone that has experience or perspective on this. Should I contact an architect/engineer to give options on how to best use the land?

I've attached an aerial image of the land. Would love any feedback!

Reece Bierhalter · Answer

Nick,

I would start with an Engineer that does private land development.  I an a licensed engineer in Private Land Development in my 9-5.  I have worked on anything from a small 1 ac starbucks to a 2000 ac. Master Planned community and everything in between.  We work on behalf of and partner with owners and developers to navigate the city process and entitlements so that you can ultimate build on  your land, we can get you linked up with a Architect, and can even help during the construction phase.  We do a lot of front end due diligence works for our clients for free to try and make deals pencil for them etc.  Feel free to message me and we can take a look at it. Hope to hear from you!

Scott P. · Answer

Upvote for Reece although i don't disagree w/the other input.  i've done this sort of thing several times.  The answer depends too on what city/state you're in.

Scott Krone · Answer

@Nick Sullivan - I agree with @Jarod Hall by first look at the underlying zoning to determine density (number of units), set backs, FAR, height, etc.  The lot/lots are irregular which may also require some zoning interpretation as well as the fact you are trying to join two lots.  A PUD may be required.  It seems the local zoning department employee was very helpful for you.  I would suggest furthering the conversation with that person for their guidance with respect to the questions I brought up.  Our philosophy is Trust but Verify.  Get the information from them, and then verify it with an architect or local planner.

The reason we suggest that approach is it become, "Worst Case Scenario".  If you can interpret the code that permits more, then that becomes your "Best Case Scenario".

Nick Sullivan · Answer

Thank you both, very helpful!

As you can imagine, this is equally exciting and scary. I'm going to take it step by step and see where I get.

Reece - I'm going to message you soon.

Jarod Hall · Answer

Howdy Nick

I would start by reading the applicable municipalities zoning code and doing some measuring of the site. If there is some absurd parking, frontage per unit, or setback requirement for multi-family then you can probably stop there. Also start game planning your exits, if you want to subdivide and sell, lots of cities have minimum development sizes. There are quite a few cities that allow multifamily, but the way they have zoning codes written you have to be doing a pretty big project to comply.

After that if you haven't done ground up development before, the first place you should start is trying to find a local partner that you can bring in. There are a bunch of decision that you will need to be making that have huge effects on the profitability of the venture. 50% of some profit is better than 100% of a loss because of inexperience. And protecting the profitability of the project is solely the job of the developer, attorneys, architects (of which I am one), and civil engineers have other expertise and incentives.

Otherwise, in most of the states where I have worked start with either a civil engineer or an architect. In some east coast states you will also be bringing in a land use attorney pretty early. But the attorney won't have the ability to but the interpretation of the code onto the real life scenario like a design professional will.

Hope that helps, good luck with the project.

Yoni Benimetzky · Answer

Hey Nick,

I would start with a land use attorney. They will be able to tell you what exactly you'll be able to build. After that i would hire an architect and using the report from the land use attorney get something designed. You can also go straight to a construction company that has an in house architect.

Want to Repurpose Parents Land into Multifamily, Where to Start?

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