Three Alternative Building Directions

Us in front of the building as we think about our alternatives

Lately Rick's been busy with AutoCAD developing alternative directions for the development of the building.  We're down to three:  

1. Add three floors to the existing building, with each floor a separate loft live/work space.  This would maintain the existing footprint and allow flexibility for future parking in the back.  However, we'd be altering the facade of this historic building and would likely increase construction costs due to seismic requirements.  This may be the highest and best use, providing us with the most income, with a total of four units.  
2. Extend the existing building out in the back, allowing the addition of one more residential unit, giving us a total of two.  This would allow us to maintain the original historic facade with substantially lower construction costs. However, we'd be making less income and the option for future parking would be limited.
3. A hybrid option would be to add just one floor and also extend out to the back, giving us two additional units, for a total of three.  The advantage of adding one unit on top would be to substantially reduce seismic costs while giving us more income than the previous option.  Yet this would result in less income than option one and future parking options would also likely be limited.  

We're hoping to decide soon as the clock is ticking.  Our decision will likely be determined by the following: the structural engineer's comparative cost analysis for the different versions, overall project pricing, town approvals, and our financial qualifications.