The tragedy has raised a number of questions (in my head) about liability as a commercial property owner, and as a leasee, particularly given the laundry list of complaints and citations against both of those parties (whose names have now been publicized).

Complications: BK, modifications, lack of service; service thru publications; 

We've found houses on Craigslist and auction.com but typically by the time properties get on the market or become public, the best deals are gone.

I will not go into detail about how to generate such lists, as that would also defeat the purpose for me, but will say to just think about what different conditions would lead to a seller (with significant equity) needing to sell quickly, what documentation, signs, and/or public records would such a condition produce, and therefore how would you go about locating those sellers.

Plus is the public water and sewer.

In regards to education lots of good options public and private both.

Public and Private Asset Managers such as BlackRock invests billions by buying packaged properties from banks, mortgage companies, and the government on an institutional level.

These listings are public and will usually mean more competition especially anywhere near Boston.

Or the real question is: can I get a list of all properties who have been notified that they will have their utilities disconnected? 

I guess you've built an impressive database with publicly available data some of which tableau has in the map overlay menu.