The real-estate agent’s name was Tandy Pruitt.  She drove a candy apple red BMW, and looked really snappy in her gold blazer, with her dark hair worn in a pile at the back, held in place by a shiny gold clip.  She wore a pencil skirt just a little on the short side that covered a magnificent ass in a way that let Simon know that she was well aware how stupid some guys could get around a pretty girl.  But her professional mix of flirting and patter broke every once in a while, particularly when he smiled at her.“I think this one will be great for your office.  The owner is from out of state and inherited the property.  He decided to remodel it into office space because the neighborhood has changed from the old days,” She said.  “Not that it’s bad… just more commercial than residential these days.  Handy to down-town, so quite a few firms are interested in this kind of space.”

That was real-estate cant for ‘please buy this property,’ Simon knew.  The real estate market was incredibly depressed.  New Mexico hadn’t been as hard hit as some places like Vegas, but it was still a buyer’s market, which was why Simon considered buying an office he didn’t really need yet.  It would be helpful to have a more official appearance, and if things went the way he hoped, he ”would” need an office in six months to a year.

Tandy pulled up to an old stone Queen Anne style house with ivy growing up the walls.  The third story tower looked almost like something out of a storybook.  With that high roof, it was probably connected to the attic.  Simon fell in love at first sight.

“That ivy could be damaging the structure,” he said.

“Oh, no,” Tandy said quickly.  “If you look closely, you’ll see it’s on a trellis.  Our inspector said it’s not hurting the walls, which is good.  This proud old lady deserves to stand for many more years.  Let’s go meet her.”

They got out of the SUV and Tandy led him to the door.  Inside, Simon saw a nice home converted to office use.  The floors were stained deep, warm cherry and the walls were creamy eggshell.  There was a little staging furniture, just enough to suggest what the place would be like in use.  It was the fourth place he’d looked at so far, counting two office suites down town.  Both of those had been too soulless for Simon’s taste.  Florescent tubes and suspended ceilings sucked the life out of you, he thought.  A third had been close, but too big.  Simon could have afforded it, but he never expected this office to need that much space.  Even the three offices and two conference rooms in this place were more than he’d need for quite a while.

He wandered through, tapping on woodwork, opening cabinets, and testing switches and faucets, but mostly sucking up the ambiance of the place.  Tandy extolled the virtues of the place, like the built-in fiber in the walls and the solid construction, but Simon was only barely paying attention.  It had… romance.  He could imagine trying to make people’s dreams come true here.

“I think I like it,” he said at last.  “I’ll want a third-party inspection, and I need to bring some of my associates in to see what they think, but I could have an offer for you by the end of the day.  Now, what about the other thing?”

“Oh, I think you’ll really like this one,” Tandy said with a smile.  “In fact, I bet we’ll be done early enough to maybe grab some dinner?”

“I know just what I want to eat,” Simon said.

—-

Tandy had been right.  The other place was perfect.  Built in the 50s or 60s, of brick over steel, it had a solid, industrial feel.  Two stories, with big glass windows on all four sides.  Those would have to be sound-proofed, and covered over on the inside, but they’d be good for the facade he wanted.

“Originally, this was a fabrication shop for an engineering firm,” Tandy explained.  They went out of business in the seventies.  It’s been a machine shop, then used for warehousing in the eighties.  About twenty years ago there was talk about trying to turn it into condos, but that never went anywhere.  The last owners turned it into a bar and grill.”

Simon had noticed the sign for Martin’s Bar & Grill–Live music.  “Seriously?  This place is huge for a restaurant.  Two restaurants could move in here and then raise a family of hotdog stands.”

Tandy giggled.  “They planned to expand.  There’s a dance floor, and the owner also intended to run a barbeque business, catering, mail-order, the works, and a microbrewery.  But he really did bite off more than he could chew, and particularly with the recession, it just didn’t work.  Also the wrong kind of crowd for this neighborhood.  But I think it’d work really well for your plans, Simon.  And the price is very reasonable.”

Simon took in the ambiance while Tandy worked the keybox lock.  This was a slightly rough neighborhood.  The businesses nearby were a tattoo parlor, a custom car shop, and a clothing boutique.  The neighborhood was close enough to Mythic’s entertainment corridor that it wouldn’t be out of place, but far enough to carve out its own niche.

“It’s only been on the market a few days,” Tandy was saying.  “The owner thought he’d be able to secure more loans, but the deal fell through at the last minute.  Darn shame.”

Simon felt a little pang of guilt at that.  But then again, more debt would have just meant more trouble when the business folded, and Simon had a feeling the business would have failed anyway.

Then he stepped inside.  The modifications made by the prior owner were still in evidence, but Simon could see the bones under the changes.  Basically, it was a huge barn with a “loft” that went all the way around, leaving a broad open spot in the middle.  The last guy had probably planned on using all that space for his warehousing, and even then Simon couldn’t imagine a restaurant needing that much room.  But for his needs…

He closed his eyes and imagined the ideas Rover had sketched out involving yards and yards of glass brick and LEDs, with smoke generators and lasers.

It would work.  Bring the back wall forward a little and the proportions would still be good.  That’d give you room for a back stage area.  In the weeks leading up to this purchase, Simon had smoozed his way into the off-limits corners of two of the city’s other clubs to ask what they had, and what they wished they had.  To attract the best people, you had to give them the best conditions.  Even turning one entire wing into offices, storage, and a security station would leave plenty of space for dancers, and that upper loft would be good for spectators and extra dancing space.  On slow nights, you’d be able to close down the top fairly easily to keep the energy of the club up.

He could see the VIP lounge up on top on one side, and imagine the parties there.  He could also imagine Tandy bent over a cocktail table with her skirt pushed up around her gym-toned waist, but that was just his way.

She caught him looking and gave him a smile that told him she was thinking the same thing.

“This looks promising,  I’ll have to have my people check it, but I think I like it,” Simon said at last.  “So how about dinner?”