I have done this 100’s of times with my 4 plex projects and always sell at a discount and let the owner realize immediate equity.

Is this a "housing project" for low income renters that may scare away some home buyers / renters and lower property values and rental income around it?

Same GC for Houston deals but feel I need a project manager to keep tabs on him to be sure this gets done correctly and stays on time here. 

@Michael Klinger, Your 1031 is complete and the 8824 reconciled and projected the basis of the old property into the new properties. 

He says he is "too busy to deal with this project being too far away from me and too small of a deal for me to concentrate any effort on".

I hired a full-time Project Manager, Office Manager, and a Sales Team of three (commission only).  

If you can find a local contractor willing to bend up material for you it is a DIY project.

For small projects I also do my own work personally with no contractors other than the very minimum the law requires.

I'm planning on building a $275K rental project starting in April 2019.

All other aspects of the deal remain attractive but we couldn't get comfortable taking on the large project without having someone in our group who was closer to the park.We have an extensive set of diligence documents that we gathered during our ~2 month inspection period.