I am sure you have done some due diligence online but here are some reads on water heaters in Irving. http://westplumbing.net/plano-plumbing-tips/irving...http://westplumbing.net/plano-plumbing-tips/dallas...Notice that the Dallas article says that FVIR heaters do not need to be elevated but not sure if the same applies for Irving or not.

Alan Greenspan gave the Irrational Exuberance speech years before the dot com collapse.  

Your best thing to do is to prepare your "elevator speech" and why they should invest in you. 

What is the average % of usable space vs. rentable space      like restrooms,  breakrooms, hallways, staircase, elevators ect.  

Baldwins ABC Always Be Closing speech would have definitely worked for you!

Jen Boyd I think many owners do not spend the necessary time vetting their property manager to know more about them other than listening to the PM's elevator pitch.

What specifically will the city require of you as far as the elevations in the front to cooperate with HPOZ?

The settlement seems to be local to the one property, i went and walked around the property since its vacant and talked to one of the neighbors and he mentioned that it happened right after they had an insane amount of raining and the retaining pond behind the property rose to nearly within a foot of the house foundation before it carved a path in the ground around the property due to the road being of lower elevation vs the house.

He came and gave us a elevation measurement.

However, a few other key factors to help you filter through:If ceiling is at least 19 feet you can add a 2nd floor and basically double your Sq Ft capacity (course you'll need to add an elevator)What to do about the Parking Lot - this can be for "Boat & RV Storage" or perhaps use the opportunity to expandAccess Points for easy entrance/exit.And the major wildcard is the city Planning & Zoning - is it currently zoned for Self Storage?