Chapter 16

The next morning I put my hand on the phone to start making calls to track down Gary and to set up a meeting with Frederick when it started ringing. It kind of freaked me out but I recovered and answered. It was Casey, the now flight attendant that moved to south Florida with Darren. After some small talk about the weather and the condo, she said, “Bull, I have something I need to tell you.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Is it mine?”

“You wish. We haven’t been together in a few months. It’s Darren’s.”

“Congratulations, I think.”

“It wasn’t really planned but I was in between using a diaphragm and the pill and didn’t wear the diaphragm and the pill hadn’t taken full effect when he came home one day and we ended up on the couch. We got married today at the courthouse. I plan to work as long as I can and then have the baby. We’ll see after that.”

“Well congratulations on the marriage. I’m busy for the next week or so but will come down to check on my properties and see the bride and mother to be.”

“That would be great. I hope to see you soon. Love you.”

“Love you too, little one.”

That made me stop and think for a bit before I shook it off and tracked down Gary. He planned to be at Hemingways for lunch and we agreed to meet. Over lunch I told him about the new space, the new cook, my concerns about gender discrimination, talking to Ted and anything he spit back at me with questions, comments or concerns.”

He got around to asking, “Am I a part of this as well?”

“Gary, you’re doing a great job. You know the industry and the people. I want you to be a part of this but I don’t know that we need to cut Jay in. We may or may not want to bring the manager or chef into ownership unless it’s the right thing to make it all work.”

“You know that I promoted a woman to run the yacht club. She’s trained her staff well. I may see if she’s interested in making a move. She would do it for a raise or a bonus based on performance.”

“Or Both. Gary, if you look at your ownership and income, I hope you’re happy and I hope it makes you want to spend what it takes to solve problems and make things right.”

“Bull, you’ll hear no complaints from me. I’m happy with the way our partnership is working out.”

“You’re in charge of all my restaurants. I don’t know if you have a title or want one but I like that I don’t have to get calls all day and night.”

“I’ll check with Brenda Garcia over at the yacht club and see if she’s interested. If she is, I’ll bring her over. If not then I’ll probably look outside since Ted’s happy where he is.”

“Sounds good. I’m putting a meeting together at the space Thursday morning to look at what we have to work with. I want Ping or Mi Ping to tell me what her visions are. I’ll want your input in the meeting as well. I decided to move the reception down to the third floor. This should give us more space for the restaurant but you can tell me what you think.”

That’s what we did. At the end of the meeting, there were many thoughts and ideas that were thrown around but in the end we all agreed on a plan of action. The decor would be neutral but with a lot of wood on the walls and floors. The food would come from different cultures with choices for everyone. Kind of an all star menu in taste and flavor. You can get hot pot soup, dim sum and a rustic pasta dish from Tuscany. We set the design team free to do their thing and Mi Ping would start to assemble the menu. I wanted to give her a shot to do it on her own. When she was happy with it, I would pay Jay to critique and make suggestions.

There would be a nice bar and they could use it to lay out a buffet for breakfast and then convert to a menu for lunch and dinner, freeing up the bar for drinking customers. Mi Ping suggested a friend of hers for the head bartender and bar manager. She had worked as a bar back and bartender at The Dead Rabbit but seemed to have moved up as far as they would let her. She knew her stuff and could manage a bar. I told her to set up a meeting with Pete and Gary before work one day down at Rockefellers.

Beverly or Bev was everything she was talked up to be. Pete even learned a trick or two. Pete had the taste and knowledge of a master mixologist but Bev could throw a drink from the mixing cup into the glass. When Pete tried, he made a mess. She won points for style. She was late twenties and had a pleasant smile and good communication skills. Gary let me know later that Bev was hired and Brenda was going to make the move.

An all woman management team. With women having the main role in life as the cooks in the home. Everyone learns to cook like grandma. But less than 10% of the head chefs and restaurant owners are women. I wasn’t aware of it at the time but there were a lot of mixed feelings when the word got out. I didn’t do it as a gimmick or stunt but gave those with the skills a chance to prove themselves.

Jay didn’t want Ping practicing her dishes in his kitchen even if it was before or after hours. Jay was a fabulous chef but his attitude and judgment still had a long way to go. Ted was fine letting her practice her dishes in his kitchen and even had the kitchen steal a recipe or two. They both kept track of the inventory she used and it was just billed to me or as accounting said, “Move it from the left pocket to the right pocket.

The next week, I had already planned to go to Florida to see my parents who were in town, meet with Amy and Mark and see everyone else. Kari was waiting at the curb when I walked out of the baggage claim. She gave me a hug and tossed me the keys as she got in the passenger side. We drove and talked about the trip from Bermuda. “Bull, my mom and dad are new people. My dad took his trip when he was younger and made enough to buy a couple boats and pay for his marine mechanic’s classes and certs. He’s busted his butt for years and with his share of the marina profits we live a nice lifestyle. He never thought he could step back and just manage the shop. Now he has that luxury.”

“That’s great. He’s helped everyone in the family if and when they needed it. He deserves a break.”

“Yeah and on the way home, Eddie was talking about the buildings you own and how much they either have or will bring in for you. Like the marina, each space brings in an income monthly if it’s rented.”

“I’ve been lucky to find good properties and find good people to run each property.”

“I want my money to work for me but will have to wait a little bit to wash it or something.”

“Launder the money. It means to take money earned illegally and make it legal to have and spend.”

“I think Ed wants to open a restaurant. He said that some people have started talking about renovating all the old beat up art deco hotels on South Beach.”

“That’s a place where you can take money and launder it. If it appraises for say $200k and you can get him to sell it to you for say $100k. The bank will use the equity as a down payment and you don’t have to have any upfront cash. You pay the trades people cash to do the work and give the owner $100k cash. Now he doesn’t have to pay as much in taxes and he can buy his groceries in cash for the rest of his life. Boats and cars are often bought and sold for cash.”

“Wow. That’s what I want to do. I could buy a bunch of them.”

“You should go in as partners with Eddie or your parents. it’s easier when an adult is involved with banks.”

“Drive faster.”

“Do you want to stop for an ice cream, my favorite little cousin?”

“If you stop, I’m taking the Jeep home to talk about the hotels and restaurants.”

“Even if you just own the buildings, you can let someone else manage the hotels, restaurants, clubs and shops that need the space. I’ll be your partner if you want some help.”

My aunt Barb, Kari’s mom, met us as we parked by their home. She walked over and gave me a big hug. Thank you for all you’ve done for my family. I was so scared when Ed called about Kari going. I told him that if it was that good of a deal that Ken could do it alone but he said, “Then We’ll split it three ways and Ken can do what he wants with his share. Bull will take care of her. He thinks fast on his feet and solves most problems before they become problems.”

“It was the same thing that the family has done generation after generation. Hopefully this is the last generation that will have to take those kinds of risks. Kari earned her share.”

Kari spoke up, “Mom, I was talking to Bull and I want to buy a hotel on South Beach. He told me how to do it.”

“I’m sure he knows how. Why don’t we all go out to dinner and we can talk about it. Eddie had a charter but should be home soon and your dad should be closing the shop in about an hour. We can all go then.”

We were all outside at the Oyster Deck with a pitcher of beer in front of us. Kari had a diet soda. There were a few dozen empty shells from the oysters we’d eaten. Kari brought up South Beach and Eddie said, “What was once a long street of nice hotels has gone to hell and they’re now mostly low rent properties on the beach. I started to ask around and most of the owners can’t afford to fix them up and they’re dirt cheap. I was talking to a couple guys about going in and buying most of all of them and fixing them up. Put the place back on the map.”

They all looked at me. I said, “I got ten million I can throw at it. I don’t know if I’ll open anything or just rent the space. I’ll have to talk to my people.”

Ken said, “Eighteen years old and he has people.”

“Brother, I’ve seen his places and his people and they’re what takes the ordinary and makes it special. I don’t know how to run a hotel or a restaurant but from what I read in the New York Times, I own 20% of the hottest restaurant in Manhattan with a two month waiting list if you want a weekend reservation. His people are my people.”

Barbara said, “You all are serious about this?”

Ed said, “Let’s drive over tomorrow.”

We drove down the strip in front of the iconic hotels with the art deco style and the neon signs. They were all run down with weekly and monthly rentals one step above being homeless. I wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular when I said, “I can’t wait to see all the neon restored and this place cleaned up and looking like it did back in the day.”

Ed responded, “I can close my eyes and see it now. Raising the past to the now.”

“Eddie, this is your town. I’ll let you get with the owners and see if they want to dump their problems on us. Make sure you phrase it that way. These places are dumps until they’re renovated.”

“I got it. I’ll look up the owners and see where they stand. I’m not going to beg or overpay for their run down buildings.”

That afternoon, I stopped by to see Casey and Darren. When I arrived, Darren was still at work at a small office he rented to conduct his business. Casey met me with a hug and I held her for a while. I heard her whisper, “I miss you, Sir.”

I didn’t whisper when I said. “I love you, little one and miss you.”

She may have had a little bump but she was still my little fucktoy. I was being pulled in two directions. I wanted to respect her relationship with Darren but in my eyes, I also never let her go. She still belonged to me.

Darren came home and let me know that he was working hard and business was doing well. He had a business meeting the next day on the golf course and asked if I wanted to play. I wanted to help if I could so I played, but after all the time it took me to find lost balls and hit all those extra shots. I fell back on the excuse of growing up on a boat with no golf courses nearby. I only played that one round.

Darren was nice about it but I could tell that I’d distracted him and his customers from playing a smooth round. The rhythm was broken up by my shots to even get close to the cup. The next day, he took different customers out to play golf. We agreed that I shouldn’t be on the course. He did a good job getting to know his customers over the four hour round of golf. Casey knew we had four hours and spent two with my cock buried deep in her sweet cunt.

As I held her afterwards she had her head on my shoulder and played with the few hairs I had on my chest. “You know, Bull, when I grew up, my father and stepmother were very religious with a lot of rules on what was the right way to live. Darren grew up the same way. We waited for a long time before we had sex and now that we’re responsible for raising this child, we want it to be raised the same way. My mom turned away and everyone thinks of her as a slut. I don’t want to have that reputation. I want to stay with Darren and raise our little girl.”

“I would never question someone’s beliefs or how they raise their children. I’ll be the best uncle I can be. Another question is how do you feel about sleeping with me now that you’re with Darren and seem to have changed your view on sex?”

“Thanks. You’re a great guy for letting us live by our own creed. I guess I’m a hypocrite for saying one thing and doing another but when you said that you owned my body, I took it seriously. There will be no others but it feels like you were grandfathered in even though I would never tell Darren that.”

In the morning I met with Amy and Mark and then took a tour of the timeshare. It was so close to being done and ready to start selling. They had travel agents and direct mailings to set up appointments for tours and sales. I was excited because, after the first ten weeks for all units, it turned from principal repayment to profit.

Amy also said, “I spoke to Frederick and Ron yesterday about the timeshare and hotel in New York. Frederick told me that the restaurant is way behind. We can’t open the hotel until the restaurant is complete. They’re going to put multiple crews on it but the fastest they can get it built out and opened is a month. This is one that slipped through the cracks. We were all focused on the living spaces and not the check in and restaurant. The good news is that all of the rooms and two floors for timeshare should be built out by then.”

“We all make mistakes. I’ve started hiring or Gary’s started to hire staff that I’m paying salary to so let’s make sure we get it done on time.” We moved on to other things and she gave Sandy the afternoon off so she could be used as my fucktoy.

Every evening I’d spend time with my parents and they told me that they still wanted to see me in New York, and that they’d heard good things from everyone that had visited. I spoke with Darren about his business and he told me that the extra capital had really come in handy and had helped him secure some larger customers. He had to pay up front for shipping that he would bill the customer for after the delivery. More capital meant more customers. I asked if he needed more and he said that since he was the only one selling that the business was growing at a slow but steady pace and with the free rent, almost every dollar is going back into the business.

Before I flew back home, Ed and Kari took me down to South Beach to see all the hotels. The art deco style looked good but they all had seen better days. He had contracts on six and wanted to get ten total. He said, “My attorney said to put them in a family trust or LLC. Ken, Kari, you and me will each own a quarter. That way if one costs more or does better or worse we all live with the good and the bad.”

“Just make sure you hire someone to be the general manager of all ten places and let them hire the managers for each. One manager may be able to run two or three if they’re right next door to each other but we need someone that knows what they’re doing. We want it done right. Talk to Amy, she may know someone.”

Kari wanted me to go to a party with her and I did but a highschool party in Florida is nothing like going out in New York. Tina was there and wanted to hook up. Some of Kari’s other friends also showed an interest. I don’t know what the rumors were about staying in New York over Thanksgiving but they were all happy to be coming back to do the parade again this year. One girl asked if I wanted to make a donation since the entire band and dance team were raising funds. I gave her a hundred dollar bill out of my wallet. A few others asked as well until I ran out of cash. I smiled to myself knowing that Kari didn’t have to worry about the cost of the trip.

I stayed in Florida for two weeks. Casey had to work and flew off a few days after I arrived. Sandy worked most days so I didn’t just fuck around. I had meetings with Amy. I went sailing. We had a little ceremony to open the timeshare and took pictures for the paper. They had sold four weeks or units the first day and they really didn’t have that many visitors stop by. The concept was new and many people liked the resort feel so a high percentage of those that came in for a tour invested in a unit.

Back in New York, Gary was running a mile a minute and had his new hotel manager doing the same as they ramped up and staffed the hotel. Ron had more crews assigned to the hotel and restaurant and it was literally a construction zone. The hardest part was making sure they did it right the first time. Both Ron and Gary walked through every night and wrote up things they wanted fixed or changed. Two weeks after I was back, the hotel officially opened and with that the new restaurant, Audubons. We had a theme of naming restaurants after famous people’s last names. With the view of the park, we named it after a bird watcher.

The restaurant and the hotel started off slowly but when word started to spread about the food and bar in the evening, the place filled up over the next month. Amy was in town with Mark and they were so excited about the sales in Florida. They were ready to launch the sales in New York.

The building took up half a city block and was 200 feet wide and 400 feet long 121 stories tall. Each floor was 80,000 square feet and for the timeshare units they averaged 50 units per floor at 1500 square feet each. Some were a little larger and had an extra bedroom.

Instead of starting out small and doing tours, Amy and Mark had an open house and only invited a select group of people. They did the tour in groups of three or four. When they finished they had sold more than I expected.

Amy explained, “The Yankees have teams that come in and stay for three or four games and then move on. Twenty-five weeks out of the year they have a team in town. Twenty-five players, five coaches, a trainer, an equipment manager, sometimes an owner or the GM will want to attend. What we charge in maintenance fees are high but nowhere near as high as the Ritz. These people all expect and demand the nicest places to stay. Two teams said they would think about it but the others all saw the long term value. We sold twenty one weeks at thirty-five rooms. Seven hundred and thirty-five units on day one. Almost fifteen million dollars and didn’t even take up a single floor.

“The football, hockey and basketball teams all liked it but they’re in and out in one or two days for the most part. We did get to sign a deal with the hotel and promised upgrades to the timeshare condos if available. 1500 square feet is huge in the city and the all suite hotel with the average room of 700 square feet is also huge for the city. Those that like to have a place to relax and unwind like this place.

“We’re talking to the networks about purchasing as well for the sports announcers. They also have daily and weekly TV shows that they have to put up the guests and after the initial cost the weekly fees are in line with what they pay at the smaller hotels. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just bought a unit for the entire year.”

“Amy, that’s amazing. You looked outside the box and did well.”

New York was different. There were major corporations that knew when their board meetings would be and would buy a unit for each board member for weeks a year or once a quarter. They all liked that they could bring their families and still have a place to work and relax. The rest were quickly grabbed up by families or couples that liked to do a week a year in New York for plays, museums, opera and concerts. They all liked the spa and there were as many men as women on the massage tables.

It wasn’t much later that I got a call from my CPA asking me to stop by his office. He asked how I was doing and I said, “I need a vacation. I’m running ragged managing the property managers. They’re just insane with their schedules.”

“Bull, your properties are printing money and it’s good to hear that you are working hard on the properties. There is a new law being passed that is designed to close some loopholes. When you buy a building you can depreciate the building and write off expenses. There are entire pools of investments to do just that for the tax write offs. You can live in Montana and be a part of a group that owns six buildings in Manhattan. You get all the tax write offs from those buildings.

“The new law says that you have to be active in your investments so all those in Montana won’t be able to write off the depreciation and expenses.”

It took a few minutes for me to think through what that meant to me. “So what’s the point here? I can still use the write offs. My buildings may go down in value but you just said that they’re all making money. Is there something I should be doing?”

“I would be looking to expand during the sell off. I’m not saying that those investments were scams but not all the buildings are in the best shape. You could buy them, fix them up and for nickels on the dollar own a lot more than you do now.”

“I need that like a hole in the head but I do have a lot of money on the sidelines even though my stocks are doing great. I think they were up 20% this year.”

“I would talk to your friend over at the bank. The way it worked they would put down the minimum and buy the buildings with a large mortgage so the write offs to investment were as high as possible. The income would usually cover the mortgage payments.”

“I also own property in Florida. If I merged the ownership group to include my uncle and cousin, could I manage the New York properties and they could manage the Florida properties and still get the write offs from both?”

“As long as they’re part of a pool and they’re actively involved in managing part of the pool, I don’t see why not. I know you go to Florida and I see the money coming in from Amy and Sandy every week. What does your family do?”