Have any of you owned an older commercial property and been approached by a developer looking to purchase it for re-development?  

A cosmetic rehab will help you learn the process and keep your costs down, while developing your list of contractors/subs.

It is not in a development but on a street that is busier than other residential streets but not like traffic in a commercial area.  

These lists will take time to develop and may be market specific, but worth the effort to systematize your business and you may be able to research and find one somebody else is using as a starting point.

@Larry Smet    I know I did I was going to make another post and mention that but forgot toI owned a couple place's in Kelowna BC and love it up there and when I am in the desert I see many BC and especially Alberta plates I almost bought development in fort MacMurray about 12 years ago.  

Soap Box ONOver time, most activities (e.g. businesses, sports, personal relationships, etc.) where judgement is involved, develop 'rules of thumb', 'short cuts', 'approximations', etc. which allow you to make 'quicker' decisions at the expense of less certainty; they will be wrong some of the time.

I have an investor/developer that I work with on projects.

If anyone else has been down this road (newbie venturing into a self-storage development project), I'd welcome any insight or recommendations!!!

I think at that price point I can narrow down to what development you bought in down to 2 or 3 locations.

If so what are the advantages of a developer using this particular stratgey.