Advice on a potential retail storefront project
We own nearly 4 acres on a fairly busy 2 way street that is growing quickly. There are new apartment complexes popping up literally right next door with around 350-400 units and there are several large neighborhoods within half a mile. There is a shopping center across the street that used to house a major grocery chain, but now is a large call center with what I'm sure is a couple hundred employees. The rest of the center is filled with the usual...Subway, Chinese buffet, nail salon, tattoo parlor, tax place, etc. A couple Banks, CVS, and Walgreen's are on a major intersection about 1/8 mile away.

Anyway, we currently have a standalone business on the property as well as 2 small houses we have been renting as office spaces and a lot rented to a landscaping company. Combined this property is almost 4 acres. 

I feel this is a prime location for a commercial venture. I've considered continuing with the residential housing trend nearby, storage units, small business office space, and retail shopping area. I believe a retail area would be the best use of the space.

The problem is, I'm an accounting and IT guy by trade. I have always wanted to get into residential real estate but never took the plunge after spending some time and money educating myself.  

That being said, I have no experience in real estate &amp; am not sure where to even get started...especially since the scale of what I'm imagining is not a typical first real estate investment. I can't imagine being able to get financing to do something like this. Even with a great plan, I have trouble believing a bank would gamble on something like this. And I don't know where to begin looking for investors.

I really just need to find someone in my area to speak with and get advice. I have simple questions. Am I on the right track? Is this feasible? Is this something a bank would consider? If not, where could I find investors? 

So my question for the reddit community is:
Can you recommend how I should start? Are there local orgs that advise on these sorts of things? Is there a particular profession I should be looking for to talk to?

Thanks for any advice on how to proceed to the next step of seriously thinking about doing this and determining if it's plausible.
[{"id": "cqjv51m", "text": "I hate to go with the standard 'talk to a broker' response that often happens in this sub, but it's what I recommend in this case. A commercial real estate broker, not any old realtor.  \nProperty development is extremely risky. You're probably better off selling or finding a partner - someone who has the knowhow &amp; experience in developing projects. A broker can point you in the right direction.  \n\nNow we don't do a good job in this sub in terms of explaining how to choose a broker. Maybe the next person to respond can tackle that. ", "replies": [{"id": "cqjvzq4", "text": "Look for a CCIM, SIOR, or a top producer as labeled by either their company or a 3rd party, like CoStar. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cqjw175", "text": "On this particular property, hire a broker and have him sell it to a developer.  You can use all of that money to start investing in some smaller, lower risk projects.  Development, of the scale you are talking about is extremely risky and complex. You are best starting with some fully leased or nearly fully leased apartment properties.  Hire a property manager, and hire a broker to help you along the way. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cqkbuqk", "text": "I know most people are going to tell you to sell it but let's say you are sure you want to do this and you refuse to sell. In that case, first go to your town planning/zoning department and talk to the town planner. They will tell be able to tell you what your limitations are. Zoning dictates things like height, setbacks, parking (this one is huge), density, etc. Get as much info out of the zoning officer as possible. Figure out what zone you're in and read the code. If you really think there is a possibility for your property to have a high income use and you still aren't overwhelmed after that meeting, start going to local planning and zoning meetings. In my city there are separate boards for planning and zoning (board of adjustment). Some places have a combined board. Go to a bunch of meetings and take notes. Do you see the same land use attorney over and over? Write his name down. Do you see an architect who seems to have a special rapport with the board, someone who doesn't get their ass kicked up there? Write his name too. Then go talk to these people about your options and what they think about a development on your property. This is what I do for a living. So far everything I've told you is free, you're spending a lot of your time but none of your money. Your goal should be a development that can be built \"as of right\". This means it's allowed in your zone and you don't need any variances. This way you get site plan approval and then building permits, fairly simple. If you need a lot of variances you are less likely to get approved and you need a lot more experts to testify. A commercial approval costs my company $20k-75k for professional fees. I hire, at a minimum, a land use attorney and an architect. Most of the time I also need a civil engineer, planner and traffic engineer. Sometimes I even need a specialist like an acoustical engineer.\n\nIf after all this you decide to do it, hire a competent attorney and experts. You're putting a lot of money on the line here. If you do get approved, you should sell it with approvals. You might be able to bumble through an approval but you will lose your shirt in construction. \n\nAll that being said, your best bet might just be to sit on it until someone comes along and offers to buy it. Sell it on contingency of approvals. You'll get more money for it and you're sort of in a small way partnering with the developer with hardly any risk. ", "replies": [{"id": "cqkw278", "text": "&gt; first go to your town planning/zoning department and talk to the town planner\n\nThis always amazes me how few people do this.  You get more information in 10 minutes than you can figure out in 10 months and at least in my experience they LOVE to have those meetings.  They want stuff redeveloped.  \n\nThe time to figure out that there is some bullshit overlay and they are going to drag you through six months of planning bullshit where they tell every board to deny your request that it is out of line with the master plan etc is as soon as you decide you are interested in selling, not after months of marketing and negotiating.......", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cqko5oq", "text": "Joint venture. Your contribution is the land and the possible approvals, if you can get that far. You will retain some interest in the property as part of the jv. A good experienced commercial broker should be able to market the deal as a jv to bring in a developer.\n", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cql8edq", "text": "I truly appreciate everyone's advice. It really sounds like we'll be getting in over our head and I don't mind doing a little bit of that because I can be a good swimmer in unfamiliar waters, but I don't want to drown immediately, which it sounds like I will. :) \n\nI have been through our zoning over the years when doing other things to the property so am relatively familiar with that...we are what's called Business - General Commercial in my area. And I am already trying to find when board meetings are to begin to attend what I can...thank you for that tip.\n\nOverall, you've easily convinced me that I need a commercial broker regardless of what we do and that diving head first into development is a bad idea.\n\nWhat about a small step approach? Could we start with some arm floaties, to continue the metaphor...\n\nWe would like some control over what is built for a couple reasons.\n\n1. We want to keep our current business/storefront here, and we would like to have businesses come in that bring customers with them. But more importantly, we'd like to keep out those types of businesses we don't want next door.This is the primary reason we purchased one of the properties at auction...protection against a noisy, obnoxious neighbor.\n\n2. We have a couple other business ideas we want to pursue that would potentially lease a unit or 2 that we built.\n\nSo, what are your thoughts on potentially doing something like this in phases over say 7 or even 10 years?\n\n1. We come up with a plan for the property \n2. Start small by building a couple small office buildings on the back of the lot. (We have a small road frontage relative to the lot size. It's a very long and narrow property.)\n3. Couple years later after these have been successful and earning some income, we add a building with a retail storefront and a couple units.\n4. Couple years later, continue with the plan...etc.\n\nIf we break it up into smaller chunks, it may be something we can accomplish.", "replies": [{"id": "cr6xdg0", "text": "Hi Gronendael,\n\nIf your looking to lease commercial space we help tenants and commercial brokers leverage cloud technology during negotiations by instantly comparing options and automating financials which saves time and lowers costs.\n\nWe've worked with brokers from JLL and CBRE and they would have to complete a full land analysis before moving forward. Commercial development usually takes a few years to start and they like to move fast once complete so waiting 7-10 years for next steps might scare away most developers. \n\nAll the best!\nJohn and the LeaseOps team", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]