In the town I live in one of the worst kept secrets is a small hundred year old mixed use 2 or 3 story building. The Laundromat at the bottom with a handful of old washing machines and dryers is always locked and never actually open. Former tenants have publicly stated it's purely a front because the landlord doesn't want to bother with a commercial tenant but because of the zoning it needs a commercial space on the ground level so they maintain a fake laundromat
Not really. Hundred year old building, the owner probably owns it free and clear, and they have tenants in the residential units. Getting the commercial space up to code for a modern business would likely be prohibitively expensive, so they keep a fake laundromat there.