That sounds like a great plan, as long as the area improves of course. Our building was in a similar situation - when we bought it, it was on the northern fringes of downtown, surrounded by seas of surface parking and a couple old industrial buildings. It's now in the heart of a redeveloped area and while parking is more expensive and more difficult to find, we've benefited greatly from the improved area.
How do you find the buildings you've invested in? We've been interested in scoping out more properties but it's hard to find listings and it seems like the landlords don't like to list some of the buildings publicly to avoid scaring off their tenants. So, similar to residential I guess, the "good deals" mostly occur through networking. What about there?