Anecdotal evidence: In the early 2000's when the dot com bubble burst, a well known commercial real estate developer here had the same idea because many of the

Anecdotal evidence: In the early 2000's when the dot com bubble burst, a well known commercial real estate developer here had the same idea because many of the large corporate buildings went empty or went into foreclosure or had various other financial issues. He bought one and I was told by several contractors who worked for him that he would brag about the sweetheart deal the city gave him and how little he would have to pay to convert the buildings into town homes. Because of the dot com bust, he also got a bottom floor deal on the price of the building. It took several years to convert, but that's kind of when the wheels started to fall off. 9 people (at last count) were charged with mortgage fraud in a kick back scheme. They tried to buy up a bunch of the condos and then planned to resell them at higher prices. They were using ghost buyers to get financing. Ironically the developer was never charged, but several real estate agents and their brokers plead guilty to fraud. The developer had also bought several other buildings with the intention of doing the same. None of them ever came to fruition and by the time the 2008 housing crash rolled around, he had lost two of the other three buildings to foreclosure and I'm not sure what happened to the other one. The developer just got lucky. Right time to buy low and sell high, but then once he was straddled with market cost of the building and no sweetheart deals on labor and tax breaks from the city? It quickly became apparent unless you have very, very deep pockets, a conversion like this is very expensive and takes a long time for you to see any return on your investment. On the bright side if you google the name "Cloud 9 Sky Flats Hopkins MN" you'll see the building they used. There are several local real estate companies who still sell the flats and they are amazing with incredible views of the city. Here's some articles about the Cloud 9 Flats fraud: 8th Guilty Plea Entered in $14M Cloud 9 Mortgage Fraud https://tcbmag.com/8th-guilty-plea-entered-in-14m-cloud-9-mortgage-fraud/ https://tcbmag.com/8th-guilty-plea-entered-in-14m-cloud-9-mo... Developer Jerry Trooien unlikely to be charged in condo fraud case, attorneys say https://www.twincities.com/2013/02/12/developer-jerry-trooien-unlikely-to-be-charged-in-condo-fraud-case-attorneys-say/ https://www.twincities.com/2013/02/12/developer-jerry-trooie...