He's also the developer and this is the first house in Phase II of this development.

Right now, land (unless in a hot market) takes a special type of buyer/developer to turn it into money, so you're better off finding the thing the people with the money want. land tends to sit a long time...

Building a new location, development profit., B. 

I think there needs to be a change in leadership and a pro-development or up-zoning attitude.

You may also want to check the Columbus OH market - great macroeconomics with lots of job and population growth along with major companies developing here that drive strong rental demand. 

Quote from @Shelan Davis: I have house under construction in Cape Coral with Whitestone Developments.

If you are not attached to the duplex, could be a good time to sell to developers who want to convert to individual condo units.

As for the experience suggestion, thank you for your bluntness JHL, we all need that reality check, but I also have 42 years (bought my first property at 16 years old) and 5 generations of real estate investment behind me and am always looking for new developments in this dynamic business.

If we do a Self Storage development we expect a 400% COC return.  

My developer client successfully defended the initial challenges and settled on this having PE rights, so he shifted the site plan to avoid the issue.