[Kyle]

Furthermore, in terms of pure value #2. is the winner by far.

Let's say #2 has a "ton" of authority links when in reality 50 may be a ton. You are going to look at mid $x,xxx and higher for a solid link on any of these sites (for those that even sell them). Now you are looking at a value of roughly 50 x $5,000 = $250,000 (a month). We can only assume these links are free and permanent as it is purely hypothetical.

Now assuming there isn't a dream team of content writers including Anthony Robbins and Steve Pavlina that wrote the site in option #1, you are going to need to see a value of $250,000 a month from the already great content on that site to make it the better choice (which is pretty much impossible). And it has to be powerful enough for link bait. That's why I still say #2 is far the better option, get the site with links already pointing to it and then expand the site.