Because significantly less than 100% of your investment actually goes into purchasing or improving the property, and the property is purchased at retail value (or worse), your returns will badly lag any benchmark of direct property investment.  2.

I remember reading something in the Wall Street Journal the other day that buyers lean toward modern finishes with a nod toward sustainable materials.

I think there are two maybe 3 ways to look at this in my mind.  1) you go into it and bring it all up to modern standards but using that old charm to basically take what is there bring it up to modern standards and rent it out essentially I'm thinking cocktail bar or something trendy like that.2) most banks are on really good centrally located real estate if this is true, then I'd consider it for the dirt, plan to scrape the lot and go vertical with whatever the highest and best use is.3) a kind of combo of the two, if the lot is in a good location and its doable, pull the vaults or other "character pieces" out of the building, scrape the lot, and build whatever is best suited for the site there, but incorporate those historical pieces into the final designs.Is the site near a major retail area? 

@Chirag Mehta For construction costs, you should be around +/- $100 PSF which would include all sitework, utilities, and going vertical with modern finishes.  

I did put in about 15k of work into the place to get it from the 1980's look to something more modern as the rentals I am competing against are newer builds, but at higher price points. 

Left some of the character while adding modern amenities, brought it up to code, and staged it.

I only hold decent properties in nice areas, modern construction, etc.

I usually recommend clients a pretty easy cosmetic rehab which is refinish floors, replace cabinets with modern white ones, add a white stone, new appliances, new bathroom vanity/mirror/light fixture and add in unit laundry. 

The rest of the day will be seen as Benchmarking exercises: beaches and good food!

@Christopher MorrisTo assess a market, consider population growth, job market, economic growth, rent-to-price ratio, cost of living, school districts, and growth benchmarks.