The colleges & universities are all putting money back into the community to revitalize / improve the city as well.

Vacancy $7,166.67/monthCommission : $44,000 ( Assumes a 10 year deal, no rental increases, commission is 6% years 1-5 and 3% years 6-10)Tenant Improvement Allowance: $15 - $20 PSF or $75,000 to $100,000."

if you can buy a smaller property, you might not have as much upside, but you can improve your property for less money. 

I'm going to invest into it to improve business.

I'm thinking we can reach $650/mo as the area improves, thinking that current rent would be closer to $580-600 starting off.

Assuming a 30 year mortgage, 4.5% interest rate, 2% appreciation, 0 improvement costs and about 3% for sale of the property, you'd have about $220K in hand plus cash flow, or an equity multiple of about 2.27x.Without the hold period estimate for the syndication, it's hard to compare.

I simply explain to the seller that I will be improving the value of their collateral.

In this method  all improvements and equipment should remain with the building. 4) If I give a tenant allowance I increase the base rent to cover the cost of the allowance.

That and distance to the beach are the two things you can't improve by throwing money at it.It's basic supply and demand.

I am including the building, the land, land improvement, and any cost of the funding in this 75%.Anybody have thoughts?