Making an offer (to lease/buy parking) they can't refuse

[Scott Sewell]

Hello all,
Looking for some advise on approaching someone to lease/buy additional parking space for a potential acquisition. We're looking at an 8 unit multi family that seems to pencil well, in a good area and with good potential for repositioning. The main reason we haven't made a move is the parking. It has 9 spaces and NO on street parking (just no room for it) Code would require at least 12-13, but the bigger concern is as we upgrade clientelle, they are much more likely to have 2 cars and this section of the road is already over crowded which doesn't help the curb appeal of the property.
A possible solution is a vacant lot directly behind the subject property owned by a local business. I've had a friend approach them about leasing this (I'm out of town currently) and they didn't say yes, but they didn't say no either. I plan to approach them when I get back.
So my questions are these:
What would be your strategy to get them to say yes at a reasonable cost?
Would you pass on this cost in the form of parking fees to tenants? (thats kind of unusual here)
Or would you just roll that cost into expenses and look at the numbers again?