I'm curious if you are "purchasing" the lot, and the improvement is in your name, basically you are the owner? 

You cannot exchange into improvements on property you own. 

I had made a few basic improvements to the lot so my tenants could park there and the developer who controls the ROW is making me get rid of the parking “as it detracts from the appearance of the entrance to his subdivision”. 

If you are interested, reply and I will DM zoom invite.Our hope is to get more people involved, share our knowledge, get feedback and improve our process even more!

These updates modernized the property, improved its curb appeal, and significantly increased its market value.

Quote from @Diane Perry: However, and I feel very strongly abut this, if you are dealing with, for example, a truly lovely craftsman house with loads of wood trim and character features, or a victorian house, or something else which is spacious enough to work as separate rooms and has a load of character, I feel it is a crime to erase all the walls, slap a coat of hideous grey paint on everything, and put in a glitzy-glammy colorless kitchen open to the majority of the first level.But it can be done in such a way as to improve even a gorgeous old house.

With things like the ONE Linden plan in Linden, which is a 50M plan to improve the neighborhood.

Buying properties and improving them takes money in orders of magnitude more than cash flow. 

It's in a part of town that is being revamped from former industrial to nice stores, shops, restaurants, and businesses and I believe there is even some money offered to help revamp that part of town if you purchase something and help improve the area.  

Quote from @Joey Andres: Some landlords will improve with practice.