Deal Structuring for a Mix Use building

[Linda Govan]

Hello BP,

I am looking at a deal in Illinois where it's an owner that has 3 commercial building with residential up top and commercial storefronts at the bottom of these buildings.  I really would not be interested in the commercial portions of the deal and was wondering has anyone ever heard of splitting the parcels on the property so that the residential has its own pin number from the commercial spaces?  Also, these properties have a lot of debt on them as well and the commercial spaces 5 out 11 of them are rented but tenants don't pay consistently to the owners and the big problem is "there are no tenants in any of these buildings for the residential.  Has anyone have experience dealing with commercial/residential deals I would love to hear your stories on how to get these types of deals done.  Thanks in advance