Page 30 of Dragon's Golden Mate
“You’ve got very tall ceilings, though, which would be an advantage. That gives you plenty of space to run heating and air ducts, plumbing, and electrical. It would take a lot of work, and it wouldn’t be cheap, but it could be done.”
“We also considered making a couple of them two stories. They’d go for a higher rental price, of course, but we like the idea of having different options to meet different budgets.” Linda summoned him back into the hallway. “Here. We’ll show you.”
They made their way up to the second floor. Even less work had been done up there.
“Some of these rooms are just slightly narrower, so we thought combining them with another one on the second floor would be a good solution.” Robertput his hands in his pockets and walked slowly around the room.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Kendrick replied honestly. “I don’t think you’d have any trouble renting them out, either.”
“If these walls could talk, eh?” Robert stopped and patted the thick wall near the window. “They’d probably have a lot to say about spitballs and writing lines, but probably also young love and learning.”
“Speaking of the walls, how much of the original building do you want to keep in terms of aesthetics?” Kendrick asked.
“As much as possible,” Linda answered. “We’ve seen the other condos that are all slicked over and painted white. That’s not really who we are. We want something a little different, something that lets people know this place has been around for a long time. I especially like the hardwood floors and the brick.”
Kendrick smiled. It was nice to work with people who actually wanted to save the building and hold on to a bit of its past. If the Suttons were successful, this old school could last another hundred years or more. “Wonderful. I like that.”
“Well, we’re not like some of the other real estatedevelopers you’ll find around here,” Robert said, twisting his mouth. “We’re nothing like Deegan.”
“Deegan?” Kendrick asked.
“Sure, Deegan Enterprises. This wasn’t the first building we wanted. We found some others we were interested in, but Deegan outbid us every time. When it’s just the two of us versus a corporation, we can’t win.”
Kendrick wondered if they’d wanted to buy the church, but he didn’t share information among his clients. “That’s a shame.”
“What’s really a shame is the way they run their business. They boast about being big on ‘revitalization,’ but we know what it really means.” Robert used his fingers to put quotation marks around the word.
“And what is that?” Kendrick tried not to sound too interested, even though he wanted to know anything he could about Cassandra and her company.
“They just buy the cheapest, oldest places they can find, tear them down, and build something shiny and expensive on the lot. Sure, they might reuse a few bricks or something, but that’s just a token to keep people off their backs. If you ask me, it’s just a way for them to get around the right way ofdoing things. Citizens would speak up if they thought they had a chance or that it would make any difference.”
“Now, Robert.” Linda patted her husband’s arm and then looked at Kendrick. “He gets so riled up about these things.”
“I think I have a right to,” Robert countered. “Those big real estate companies are built on the backs of the poor. Places like Deegan take lower-income housing, tear it down, and build luxury condos. They destroy historical places and turn them into shopping centers. They have no heart.”
Kendrick had to wonder if this was what Lucille’s friend had in mind when he’d referred to Cassandra with such contempt at the protest. It wasn’t just that she was the enemy of the church. She’d done this multiple times and in multiple locations.
“That woman who’s in charge really knows how to market her scheme, too,” Robert went on. “Deegan Enterprises is having a big concert soon, framing it as a fundraiser for ‘downtown revitalization.’ That makes it sound so altruistic, but money is at the center of it. Just like anything else.”
“Not for us,” Linda reminded him, squeezing his hand. “You have to remember that, Robert. And you can just let them have downtown, because we can’tafford anything there anyway. We’ll have our nice little place here, and everyone will talk about what great landlords we are because we always fix things right away. It’ll be just what we always wanted.”
He smiled at her fondly. “Our own way of kicking dust in their eye, right?”
“Exactly!” Linda giggled a little. “I just can’t wait!”
Robert looked at Kendrick. “Well, what do you think?”
Kendrick thought the two of them were adorable together. They were a good pair, a true match who complemented each other. He thought coming there would be a great distraction, but it only made him think of Maeve even more. Would the two of them be like that? Would other people see them holding hands down the sidewalk and think it was cute?
That wasn’t what Robert wanted to know, though. “I think it’s a very good possibility. I’ll need to check for any structural issues that need to be addressed. You’ll need to get some professionals here for plumbing, electrical, and heat. I’ve got good recommendations for you, people who are truly good to work with.”
“What about keeping some of the elements ofthe building?” Linda asked. “For instance, what about these doors? Could we use the originals?”
He walked over to the classroom door, playing with the handle and examining the thickness. “Aesthetically, I think it’d look great. The problem is that it wouldn’t be secure enough for most folks. I think what you could do instead is turn these into interior doors within the apartments themselves. For instance, these could be the doors to the bedroom and the bathroom.”
“Perfect!” Linda clapped her hands in front of her.
“I’ll need to look around more, and then I can write up a full report with recommendations,” Kendrick offered.
