for this project im working on with others we are planning a mixed-use building at 1214 N. Water street. (which is a street in our city)and we plan to have the first floor used for retail, more specifically fast food, to be used during the week, with the above 4 or 5 floors to be 1 and 2 bedroom apartments. any information on the following would be good:
-are there any zoning issues to be aware of with a project like this?
-what are some other developments occuring in the immediate area?
-would there be a better market for office space instead of apartments?
-currently, our project does not seem at all feasible. we believe this is because we plan 2 underground levels of parking, which costs a great deal and does not bring in much money. is there a way to solve this? we wanted to use about half of the first and second floors for parking to reduce cost by not using underground parking, but found there may be restrictions on something like this. (supposedly the cars should not be visible)
-we plan to have the retail (fast food) level open very late to attract crowds on water street, would this present problems for tenants in the proposed apartments?
any information on these subjects or anything else would be great