North County definitely has some challenges, and you need to know where to invest up there... but with the airport and Boeing in North County, some areas would be solid blue collar neighborhoods for rentals.Overall, St.

The land faces major street and zero distance of a big high school(three sides adjacent to school).I wonder if the school is a good attraction for business. 

Cloverdale also has most of the larger MF properties, the rest scattered along 8th or 14th.Everywhere that isn't already L zoned got upzoned via HALA to RSL (residential small lot) - which may or may not make much of a difference in the short term,  but will eventually mean 2 houses on a 5000sf lot,  or 5 per 10000sf if 2 adjacent lots could be assembled.Due to the comparatively affordable rents in SP,  along with its good commute location,  there will be ZERO problem keeping a decently maintained, respectable property rented.   

Take a look at adjacent towns such as Christiansburg.

The junkier areas of Long Beach (nearly everything not adjacent to the water) are where I see many investors buying, especially multi-family properties.

We are considering a commercial property purchase to hold & use for expansion of our business. There are currently (3) buildings … a large warehouse, a 4 bay service shop and a small office building on the 4 acre...

I think there's a lot of potential right now in the north part of town, and out towards the airport.

When I ask about comps for sale or rental, he just says he doesn't know those neighborhoods particularly well (one is adjacent to where he lives).

It is also not too far from Atlanta, a huge airport hub.

What I recommend is having your contractor or someone take photos of the entire area that will be worked on and the adjacent areas.