I had some thoughts that can't get off my head, but I know there are a lot of experienced and knowledgeable personals on this platform so I would like to ask everyone their thoughts on the route an aspiring real estate developer should take.

Your better bet might be to go to RUBS for heat at least in the short term. 

Any tips or recommendations for choosing a platform for the loan?

There will be other tenants moving in August 1st and I can bet that they will throw in the towel with this situation and want to quit on their 1 year leases.

My question is, what else does that platform do that I should set up? 

They will also handle all returns, all complaints, all chargebacks and if your store gets shut down work to get the store back up.Requirements beyond the up front fee is good credit and the ability to get about $25,000 to $50,000 in credit cards to buy product and to keep the credit cards paid so you can continue to buy products.This is all totally new and not really sure how to do my homework.They  - the groups and their testimonials from customers they have build stores for show sales of anywhere from 25,000 to $100,000 after about 6 months of building credibility on the online platform and with the credit card companies. 

I bet I could rent the downstairs for about $1,800-$2,100 (if I put a kitchen in the downstairs) and the upstairs for about $800-$1,200. 

I recently started putting a portion into crowdfunded commercial real estate equity deals on online platforms such as crowdstreet.com and realcrowd.com among others.

Obviously some markets are better setup but I think doing it locally is the best bet to start out.

You will barely break even, maybe even operate at a loss when you consider maintenance & vacancy.But if you are looking for appreciation, then Morrisville is probably a safe bet.