Life in a Small New Hampshire Town Pt. 04

"Sorry, Erik. Gotta go."

I threw on a robe, got Sierra and made her lunch. Erik got dressed and came into the kitchen.

"Would you watch her while I dress?"

"Of course."

Erik

Sierra had just finished eating, and I had cleaned up her hands, face and high stool tray when Shiloh returned. She sliced some grapes in half for her daughter so she was occupied while Shiloh fixed us sandwiches. I made some coffee. We finished just as Sierra polished off the last of her grapes. I cleaned the dishes while Shiloh cleaned her daughter. Again.

We headed into the living room and watched Sierra play with her toys.

"Recently, my grandfather died. As my parents are financially secure and, as his only grandson, I've unexpectedly come into an inheritance."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Erik."

"Thanks. He was 84 and had been in ill health for a few years now. I don't think he ever got over my grandmother's passing. Anyway, I've been trying to expand my DJ business beyond doing weddings and other events. While I thoroughly enjoy doing them, the bookings are erratic. I'd like to have a steadier income stream and have been looking for a space where I can DJ on a regular basis."

"Find anything yet?"

"No, but I just started looking."

There was a knock at the door.

"Damn! I forgot Derrick and Olivia were coming over to look at their wedding album. Would you get the door while I get my computer set up?"

Derrick

When we arrived at Shiloh's, we noticed Erik's van parked there.

"Do you think this is bad timing, Derrick?"

"She suggested this afternoon and agreed to meet at 2:00. I wonder what Erik's doing here."

When we knocked on the door, Erik answered it.

"Olivia, Derrick, come in. Shiloh's getting her laptop. She said you were coming over to view your wedding photos. Want some coffee while you're looking at them."

"Love some."

"Let me go make some fresh. Make yourselves at home in the living room. Mind watching Sierra until one of us gets back?"

"Sure thing."

As he left for the kitchen, Olivia mouthed 'What's going on'?

'No idea.' I silently replied.

Shiloh returned and set her laptop up on the coffee table.

"Sorry I didn't have this ready for you. It's been a busy morning and we got ...sidetracked."

I saw Olivia smirking at me. Erik came over with two mugs, giving one to each of the women. He returned with two more, one for himself and the other for me, returning one more time with cream and sugar.

"Do you mind if I look over your shoulders? If you look at all her photos on the walls you can understand why she's my favorite photographer."

Shiloh blushed at the complement as she started the slide show. When she was done, she said,

"I'll give you a thumb drive to take home. You can pick out the ones you want printed, and what size prints of each."

"I know I want that one of our first kiss as a married couple. Derrick, any you like?"

"Well, that one of course. I also like the sequence of all the volunteer firefighters rushing towards their vehicles. Shiloh, everything okay with your bathroom?"

"Yes. You did a great job."

"Do you mind if I take a quick look?"

"Uhh....sure."

"Do you mind if I join him? In case I want something done at our place."

"Another project at our house will have to wait a bit, my love. We've already started two projects. Let's finish them before we begin another."

Shiloh just sort of waved us in. We had to pass through the bedroom to get to the bath. The first thing I noticed was the unmade bed. It didn't take much imagination to figure out what may have resulted in the disarray. The second thing I noticed was the crutches leaning against the headboard. That would explain the need to make it handicap accessible, but not why. The work all looked good. My crew did a nice job.

When we returned to the living room, Erik and I exchanged glances.

Olivia

"Shiloh, I love it, particularly the shower. Derrick, maybe we can consider some changes once you get caught up."

After we sat down, Erik said,

"Changing the subject, you two have lived here for a while. I'm looking for a space where I can DJ regularly. Rent or purchase. Know of anything?"

Now it was Derrick and I who exchanged glances.

"I might. Phil and Sherry, who catered our wedding and own the restaurant where I work, mentioned they may be interested in retiring. They own the building, which houses the restaurant on one side and a currently empty storefront on the other. Let me talk to them tomorrow."

"If you could find out details that would be great."

On that note, we took our leave. Once in the car, Derrick asked,

"Did you notice the unmade bed?"

"Yep. Erik met us at the door and seemed to know his way around the kitchen. I think we can guess at the way they were 'sidetracked'."

"Did you notice the crutches next to the bed?"

"No."

"I assume that he was the 'friend' that we made her bath accessible for. I caught a glance from him when we came out of the bedroom, but nothing more."

Monday, Oct. 15.

Olivia

I waited for the mid-morning lull to approach Phil and Sherry.

"Mind if I ask about your plans? We were talking with a friend yesterday who's looking for space."

"We'd plan to sell the building and the restaurant together, with the hopes that the buyer will keep the restaurant open. Like most small towns, Appleton needs to keep its local businesses open and local. The restaurant is profitable, but, like most restaurants, the margins are thin. There are eight apartments upstairs, four on each floor, they've always been rented and have provided steady cash flow during slow times.

Some how Roger Russell got wind that we might be selling and showed up at our home yesterday, making a significant offer, pushing a hard sell."

"Ugh. He's such an unlikable person."

"Agreed. He doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation in these parts. We think he'd tear down the building and put up another chain pharmacy or some such thing. Certainly nothing that would improve life in Appleton. From a financial standpoint, the offer is good, but he's the last person we'd want sell to."

"I think our friend has a serious interest, if the price was right, and he's local. Would you do this for me: Get me your asking price, broken down for the building and the restaurant business; Gross annual sales and net profit; Gross and net income from the apartments; and square footage of the restaurant and the space next door? These can be approximate, something he can use to make a decision whether to pursue this to actual negotiations."

"We'll have them by the end of your shift. Please tell your friend this is confidential info, so please safeguard it."

***

Derrick

I had the crew start framing the garage. When I could get Chris alone, I asked her,

"What's the story with Erik and Shiloh?"

"They seem to be an item now."

"Kind of a big change for Shiloh from the first time I met her."

"Yep."

Since she didn't volunteer anything else, I didn't pursue it any further.

***

Olivia

After dinner, we settled into the living room. I recapped my conversation with Phil and Sherry.

"I guess Roger Russell was as obnoxious as usual."

"I vaguely knew he had a reputation. What can you tell me?"

His grandfather, Elwood, evidently made a small fortune during Prohibition, smuggling liquor in from Canada and making moonshine up in the backwoods. Since most people didn't believe in Prohibition, and enjoyed his products, he was never charged with any crimes. After it ended, he used his money to buy up foreclosed farms and forest land during the Great Depression. There were rumors that many of the deals were underhanded. Charges were brought against him several times, but again he was never convicted.

His son, Percy seems to be the straight shooter in the family. He started several sawmills, providing timber harvested from their lands as lumber to fuel the post-war building boom. He kept tenant farmers on many of the properties he owned, but seemed to treat them fairly. Basically, he turned the family business legitimate.

Roger is Percy's son, but he seems to have reverted to Elwood's business practices. He started building many housing developments, starting in the 1980's, often on farm land they owned. The most generous description is to say they were not high quality. He branched out into building many of the small strip malls on the edges of towns. Again, the quality was lacking. I once heard him described as the kind of guy, if you shook his hand, you needed to count your fingers afterwards, to make sure you still had them all. Obviously, an exaggeration, but you get the point.

A couple of years ago, Roger ran for Selectboard. He lost by a two to one margin. The next election he ran again, against an incumbent who decided at the last minute not to run. Therefore, Roger was running unopposed. The locals were so concerned, they ran a write-in candidate. Roger again lost by a two to one margin. He does have his supporters, but he's screwed too many people over the years, so he is not well liked.

Nowadays, he's still doing some sleezy deals, but seems to spend more effort attending every town meeting, selectboard, zoning, whatever, trying to make it difficult for anyone else to do anything, basically being a royal pain in the ass.

Finally, we have Roger's son, Justin. At about 20, he's dealing drugs. Phil and Sherry have a 'No Trespassing Order" keeping him from entering the restaurant, as he was seen dealing on more than on occasion. They even installed cameras and motion activated lights outside, to monitor the front and rear entrances, because they don't trust what he may do."

"Sounds like a lovely family."

"Anyway, I have the info about the restaurant and building that Erik wanted. Do you want to call Erik and set a time we can get together? It will be easier to explain in person than to just give him raw numbers."

"Sure."

"Hello, Erik?....Derrick.....Thanks, I thought it came out well. Olivia got the information you wanted but she thinks it needs an explanation in person. When and where would you like to sit down......Go ahead, I'll wait...........Let me ask Olivia.....Shiloh wants to know if we can come over for dinner Friday.....That works for us, what time?.....6:00 is good. See you then, Bye."

"Evidently, this Shiloh - Erik relationship is moving pretty fast, since he was there again tonight."

"If you remember, ours caught fire pretty fast also. It seems to be working quite well. I do wonder about the bathroom remodel."

"I have a pretty good idea, but will wait for Erik to bring it up."

Thursday, Oct. 18.

Olivia

"Roger Russell has been in every day, badgering Phil or Sherry. They know we are meeting with Erik, unidentified, tomorrow and are willing to wait to see how that goes. I'm worried that if Erik can't purchase the building, Roger will be the likely buyer."

"And there goes your job."

"Well, there's that, but I'm more concerned that the building will be torn down and replaced by a chain pharmacy, fast food joint, dollar store, overpriced coffee shop or even a gas station. Besides the school and post office, local small businesses such as Samantha's store, my restaurant, the local flower and gift shops, etc. are the heart of Appleton, as in every small town. If we lose any of them, the changes are irreversible. Look at the towns in southern New Hampshire, just over the Massachusetts border from the greater Boston metropolitan area. They are hardly recognizable as being in N.H. Certainly, they don't have the small-town feel anymore.

"Where are you going with this, Olivia?"

"I was wondering, if Erik can't buy the building, if there's enough left from selling your house after the garage and other building are completed to, I don't know, maybe be partners somehow."

"And....you'd run the place?"

"Possibly. If, and I know it's a big if, we did this, we could keep it open seamlessly, keep the same people. Obviously, we'd need a new short order cook to replace Phil, and another server to replace Sherry. I know restaurant margins are always thin, and business is subject to outside influences, but they told me that it's always shown a profit, albeit a small one in some years."

"This is a lot to digest. Let me do some research before we meet Erik tomorrow. Find out then what he actually has in mind. I've still got two significant projects going here to complete."

"I know it's a lot to throw at you. It may be a onetime opportunity to preserve a little of why we're here."

"I don't disagree with any of what you said, Olivia. I just need to convince myself that it would be a viable opportunity. And, we really need to know more about Erik's plans. Tell you what, why don't I get the crew started tomorrow, then come in, talk with Phil and Sherry, look over the restaurant, look at the rest of the building, come back home to do some research."

"That's more than I can ask for."

Friday, Oct. 19.

Derrick

The garage and mud room were framed. Today, the crew was sheathing the walls and fabricating the rafters for the mudroom, sheathing that if they had time. The steel guys had started erecting the frame yesterday. I made a deal with the foreman to come back tomorrow and use their crane to hoist the roof trusses for the garage. I don't know if he cleared it with his supervisor; probably not. My crew will install them. One extra day in their paychecks for the week. Everybody comes out ahead, except maybe the steel contractor.

I arrived at the restaurant mid-morning, during the lull. Phil, Sherry, Olivia and I discussed the restaurant business and the building in general.

"Sounds like you have more than a passing interest, Derrick."

"Olivia convinced me to explore the possibility. Can you can let me into the rest of the building?'

"These keys will get you into the former antiques space, the cellar, entry to the second floor and above, and this one will get you into apartment 7. He's moving at the end of the month and we've had access to show to prospective tenants. He should be at work now, so just knock and enter."

"Thanks, Sherry."

I started in the cellar. Everything looked solid, it was dry with no signs of water damage. The former antique space was larger than I expected. Using my laser measure, I roughly calculated it to be just shy of 3000 square feet. The apartment clearly had not been updated in a while, but everything was functional. I handed back the keys.

"What about parking?"

"We own the lot between here and John's place next door. There's also about a three quarters-acre behind the building, although we've only created a dozen or so spaces."

Phil gave me a tour of the kitchen, stating that, while everything was functional, some of the equipment may want to be updated.

"There's one thing you should consider. If you or your friend do buy us out, you are going to make an immediate enemy of Roger Russell. Not sure what he'd do, but I'd expect something underhanded."

I thanked him for the warning and headed home. I spent the afternoon looking at equipment costs, rules and regulations for restaurants, zoning issues, licensing requirements, everything I could think of. I looked at the financial summary that they gave me. If we moved forward with this, I'd have Susan look at the books more closely.

***

Derrick

Olivia arrived home, we showered, dressed and headed to Shiloh's, stopping on the way to pick up a bottle of wine. I brought my laptop with me. Shiloh met us and let us in. Sierra had already eaten and was in an active stage, showing us how well she was learning to walk, in time settling to play with her toys. We engaged in small talk until it was obvious she was running out of steam and Shiloh took her to bed. Erik went out and started the grill.

Dinner was grilled, marinated flank steak, oven roasted veggies and a salad, accompanied by the wine we brought. After dinner we settled into the living.

"Shiloh, dinner was excellent."

She smiled and nodded at Erik.

"Thanks, but my grill master there marinated and grilled the steak. Team effort."

"Well done team. Moving on to the reason we're here, I looked at the space earlier today."

I went over the details of the storefront Erik was interested in, my assessment of the overall condition of the building, but avoided discussing the restaurant.

"What exactly did you have in mind, Erik, and does this fit your needs?"

"I wanted a space where I could DJ several nights a week, perhaps have karaoke, dancing. I'm not sure the requirements for food and liquor, but that is a possibility. The thing is, this is a larger room than I anticipated. What are they asking for it?"

"That's where it gets tricky. The owners want to sell the whole building, including the restaurant business, as a package deal."

"Sounds expensive."

I disclosed the asking price.

"In, absolute dollars, it's a lot of money. I did a fair amount of research today. For what's included, it's really a good deal."

"That's more than I was expecting and more than I can afford."

"Would you be interested if you had a partner? Olivia and I 'may', and at this point, I emphasize 'may', be willing to invest in the building and run the restaurant. It depends on how much you can fund."

Erik gave a number.

Shiloh said, "I can match that from my settlement."

"Olivia and I can also match it. Combined, that would give us enough to buy the building, renovate and fit-up the space, based on some very crude numbers I ran today. We're not ready to say we're 'in' yet, but if we can come to an agreement between ourselves and Phil and Sherry, I think this could work. What about you two?"

They looked at each other and nodded assent. I opened my laptop and showed them the floorplan I had done with the design-build software.

"This is how the building looks now. And this" .....showing them a second version....."is one possible plan. The restaurant side, particularly the public's area, pretty much stays the same. I've expanded the kitchen here, into what I'm calling the nightclub area. This would be the bar, with seating and this could be a small stage here, if you wanted to host live music or for you to set up your equipment. Here's some seating, and this is a dance floor. I divided the building here, which works with the current support walls, to make this area a private function room, seating about 75. This area here is food storage and a new, larger walk-in cooler.

The kitchen and bar would serve all three areas. Currently, the restaurant doesn't have a liquor license. Since the seating capacity has over doubled, I'd need some guidance from Phil on how much larger the kitchen needs to be.

"Derrick, this is amazing. So much more than the DJ space I envisioned. I like it. What's the next step?"

"First, does everyone think we should pursue this idea?"

There were enthusiastic yeses all around.

"Then I suggest we all should meet with Phil and Sherry to get their opinion on whether this is a viable plan. If yes, we get firmer numbers from them as to the selling price and what's included. Erik, we need to first get you in to see the space to make sure you like it. Then we take some more accurate measurements so I can draw up a more detailed floor plan. Then it's just costing out everything and grinding out the numbers. With working drawings, I can confidently estimate construction materials and labor, but the kitchen and bar fit-up are unique items and will require more research. Any special fit-up you need to DJ also needs to be calculated."