Practising, without knowing the area, zoning etc, my advice would be do EVERYTHING you can to get the neighboring property. As Acorn suggests the money is in the combined blocks but, what price to have control over who and what lives next to you. Some developers buy a site and then rent it to ferals for years and they do not care if trashed. Other developers try to go big structures and over develop a site. Then you have a fight on your hands to preserve your amenities. Buy it even if it is not a bargain, sit on it till you are ready and on sell to a developer, take the money and shift to better area or whatever. I have had three chances to buy a development site next to one of mine and missed out. Money commited elsewhere or out of country, once at $140k, once at $150k and then $500k, now $800k. Ferals live there and infested with rats which are always bothering my tenants. Owner will not spend a cent and the whole area suffers.
