(NYC) How to start the process of presenting a construction project and bringing into fruition?
Every day for the past 5+ years i pass by this old abandoned building with boarded windows. Great location. Street-level all spaces have little retail shops that even during this pandemic have managed to keep their doors open.   
  
The building is near transportation, coffee shops, and a quaint but lovey park.

When i see this building i think of the missed opportunity. I imagine at this point the best would be to demolish it, and have a practical but creative small architecture firm come up something worthy of Christopher Alexander while giving Gaudí - or better Tadao Ando? - a nod.  
  
I see in that lot some affordable apartments, with outdoor spaces on the rooftop. Practical without making it all functional but fun and beautiful too. The kind of building that schools, in a normalized world, would bring their students to come see first hand and be marveled.  

Anyway, here’s my question: If someone had no connections to developers, nor big pocket investors, and just worked at a reputable real estate brokerage firm, how would one best go about it? What would be a practical 1st step to take (and if so inclined to share it, the 2nd, and 3rd...) in order to bring this from the idea stage to the real?  

Thank you.
[{"id": "ggbvkg4", "text": "Hate to start off snarky, but the first step would be to have a spare $200k (at least) lying around.\n\nYou\u2019ll need to find the owner and negotiate a deal.  If it\u2019s the single eyesore on the block, chances are there may be title or inheritance issues which will need to be cleared.  Or worse,  a slumlord who doesn\u2019t care about your vision and will want a ridiculous price to offload it because I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve received offers before.\n\nThen you\u2019ll need to pay out of pocket for lawyer fees, agreement of sale deposits, architectural drawings, possibly structural engineering reports, permitting and expediting costs, a Phase I, and a loan commitment.  \n\nThen you need to find a good general contractor who can make your vision a reality.  And one who won\u2019t quote you low only to find \u201cunexpected field conditions\u201d later.\n\nPlus a good mortgage lender to work with you all the way, who you can make a case to give a loan to a first time developer.  More likely you\u2019ll need a partner or at least a deep pocket who can act as loan guarantor.  Or else you\u2019re dealing in the world of hard money loans at 3% origination fee and 11% interest \u2014 another construction shutdown and your profit will be gone.\n\nEven then, without the mortgage lender committed, the seller may not want to sell to someone asking for a long mortgage contingency.  So now you\u2019re looking at showing proof of funds to close upfront.\n\nI compare developers to those circus performers who spin plates.  Got to keep a lot of things moving all at once, all dependent on each other.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason why when you meet a young real estate developer, you should ask \u201cwho\u2019s his dad?\u201d", "replies": [{"id": "ggbxbg8", "text": "Reality check.", "replies": [{"id": "ggbxk4k", "text": "I forgot the best part.  After you spend the $200k on your project, you\u2019re going to need another $200k in the bank to have liquidity in case the bank calls the guaranty, or in case of a change order(s), or of course to pay your living expenses in the 18-22 months it will take before this project starts generating income.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "gge2mfl", "text": "That last sentence rings so true with very few exceptions. There's the odd young guy who came up flipping SFH into small multiplexes and finally building big buildings in their late 20s/early 30s. But that's rare and involves a lot of luck, hard work and failures.\n\nFor development you're much better off bringing the opportunity to someone established and coming in as a partner, then trying to pick up the skills from them. Starting on a big project with no prior experience is a good way to lose money.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggbvork", "text": "Is it abandoned and boarded up? Or full of little shops? Confused. How is it zoned?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggbxp8y", "text": "No relationships, no money, no experience, no chance.", "replies": [{"id": "ggbz03h", "text": "Pull harder on your bootstraps lol /s", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggbyxx8", "text": "Good design costs $$ to design and build. Tenants don\u2019t care what the architecture above them looks like. You\u2019ll find it is hard to justify the additional costs of sexy design unless it\u2019s a condo project.", "replies": [{"id": "ggcq2oa", "text": "These two projects beg to differ that \u201cTenants don\u2019t care what the architecture above them looks like.\u201d  \n  \nhttps://www.520w28.com  \n  \nhttps://www.152elizabethst.com/residences", "replies": [{"id": "ggcwlng", "text": "As i said, \u201c... unless it\u2019s a condo project\u201d", "replies": [{"id": "ggcwyhe", "text": "Nothing prevents a rental apartment building from having a cool facade.", "replies": [{"id": "ggdcuxe", "text": "Costs do. Have to be able to support amenities and high-cost features with additional rental dollars. If it doesn\u2019t bring in more rent dollars it\u2019s a sunk cost that just makes it harder to finance and cuts into cash flow.\n\nWe all love cool projects and in an ideal world most developers would also throw up super cool facades. Unfortunately most renters aren\u2019t willing to pay the added rent to justify the cost like they are for covered parking, stainless steel kitchen appliances, floor space, balconies, \u201cfree\u201d WiFi, etc.\n\nThat and the state housing agency may take issue with an affordable project spending additional tax credit dollars on the facade.  We ran into that in an affordable project in Ohio; got really cheap granite from a foreign supplier flooding the market, put it in an affordable project and the state housing agency got real upset about what they imagined as an unnecessary cost.", "replies": [{"id": "ggdhjzq", "text": "I appreciate your example for context.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggcjuv1", "text": "I want to start a restaurant. We\u2019ll serve five star french cuisine inspired by Michelin chefs of Europe using the finest, organic, hand selected ingredients. And it\u2019ll be affordable to everyone. \n\nI don\u2019t know a restauranteur, chef, or even a bus boy. And I have no money. But I do make a point to curate food related content on Pinterest and maintain an actively critical (but honest!) Yelp account.", "replies": [{"id": "ggcpnxy", "text": "Ah! A glass-half-full kind of guy ;)  \nPS Joking aside, sale prices in Manhattan are amazing for buyers. If still looking for a place to invest, this is the time and place :)", "replies": [{"id": "ggr9aj7", "text": "Is it? Everything I\u2019m seeing on the MF front from $2m-$5m is pointing towards values staying afloat bc of the interest rate environment and less inventory on the market. Office/hotel/retail obviously is a different story. I\u2019m not a broker so I\u2019m genuinely asking if you\u2019re seeing research that\u2019s suggesting differently.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggckfa8", "text": "Nyc cre lawyer here. It's a complicated process. If you're really  interested send a pm", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggd78oj", "text": "Do you know the age of the building and/or anything about tax credits or alternative financing?\n\nThat said, even if you could lock down site control, you'd probably be looking at like 2+ years of carrying the holding costs. However, if somehow you could lock down site control and then bring this to a bigger firm... Maybe? You'd probably get a bit boxed out of the deal since all you'd be doing is bringing the building, but again, maybe? \n\nThat said, those are long shots. And you won't be looking at any sort of affordability if you want them to look decent/have a nod to a certain architect. Cost per unit for TDC is abt 400-500k per unit in the northeast....maybe higher in NY.\n\nHow does one have zero connections to developers yet work at a reputable brokerage?", "replies": [{"id": "ggd9nlm", "text": "Going the \u2018bigger firm (bigger player) route is what\u2019s on my mind.  \n\nEdit: when i say not having connections to a developer meant not knowing them personally. An intro is probably just one, two max., degrees of separation.", "replies": [{"id": "ggda4ht", "text": "So maybe you can get an option on it and then bring the deal to them. However, if your input ends after site control the firm is probably just gonna try to buy you out.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ggddt7s", "text": "Side note, I wish the development business allowed us all to be as optimistic and excited as OP before investors, lenders, and especially regulators beat us into submission", "replies": [{"id": "gh1ag41", "text": "Ah, the good old triangle shirtwaist factory days, when we didn't have to worry about pesky fire codes!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gh1aqmp", "text": "Chris Alexander + Gaudi/Ando? /shudder", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]