The cabinets are jacked, but it still has a giant, commercial hood vent, powered louvers, fire suppression system, commercial 3-bay sink, regular sink and a "handwashing" station.

Hence, these policies suppress home values.  3. 

It is feared that that may just be the beginning of the suppression of rent increases.   

I don't know exactly when/how those will impact supply, but it has me thinking maybe to focus on 3br's for now (assuming 2br and 1br will be bloated and rents suppressed for awhile).Are there any local groups or meetups you can recommend in Moses Lake?

All meters are pulled and the city has told me that the building has to be brought completely up to code and have a fire suppression system installed.

Thanks to the new fire suppression law in Minnesota, we plan to finish as close to 4500 sq/ft as possible but not more

Many new developments and USC Expansion and rejuvenation of a suppressed area are currently underway.

Sure we are all bringing a little skin to the game (again we are saving 50% or 66% down payment for each of us as apposed if we did it separately) and we also bring different skills and points of view to help suppress failure through our agreed upon business plan. 

We have moved to hardwired-interconnected with battery backup (in older buildings we use the ones that interconnect wirelessly if we cannot easily pull a 14/3 between the detectors).We also make it very clear in our lease that disabling or impairing the functionality of any fire/gas detection or suppression equipment is a minimum $200.00 fine and cause for termination of the tenancy.

It is your job as a REI (IMHO) to suppress the risks best you can in every deal no matter how it is procured (Friend, REO, MLS and etc.)