Murph finished giving us a tour of the building. The rest of the fifth floor was primarily a large conference room which was available to any of the tenants. It would also be the one where we would have our board meeting every month. There were also double doors that led to the terrace from the conference room as well. There were only two ways of getting onto the terrace, the office I was considering and the conference room.
I hadn't realized that this building was one of the more recently renovated buildings, which explained why it wasn't filled yet. The first floor had a book store. The second floor had three doctors' offices. The third floor was vacant, and the fourth floor was soon to be the new offices for Murphy's Properties. Originally, they were going to take the Fifth floor, but being the top floor was smaller because of the rooftop terrace, Murph and his brother and sister decided they liked the 4th floor better. Each floor had a mens room and ladies room, even the fifth. There was only one elevator and one stairway. The lobby was rather nice, the exposed stairway next to the elevator gave it an 'art deco' look. Most of the interior was preserved. It looked like Mick Pheury was moving from the 1920's to the 1930's. That's okay by me, just so long as it doesn't go to the 21st century. At least not yet.
Then we went through a few more of the buildings in the block. To be honest, they were all rather remarkable. To think that some of these buildings are almost 100 years old, the newest are around 75 years old, and they look like they were just finished within the last 5 years.
"Murph, any of these buildings are fantastic. I just can't believe the amount of work you have put into them."
"The hard part to believe is that we are still in the black. We actually wait until we can pay for the renovation in full before we do the work. The building you like, for example, cost us just about a quarter million to fix up. Considering it wasn't in that bad of shape to begin with. We don't use fly by night contractors to do the work. We use museum quality renovation specialists. They fix it up to the period we want. Being we wanted these to look the way they did in the 30's and 40's, when this area was flourishing, that's what they did. It's not cheap, but it's worth it."
"You could actually shoot a 30's era movie down here."
"Funny you should mention that, one of the studios is waiting for us to finish so they can. Don't tell anyone, but that's probably where we are going to get the money to pay for the wharf."
"Do they want the wharf up or down for the film?"
"I don't know. I don't think it matters. They are mainly interested in the front."
Carla perked up, "Are they looking for any extras?"
"Oh, I'm sure they will be. But remember Carla, this is probably a year off."
"Good. That gives me time to lose a few pounds and get back in shape."
As if we rehearsed it, Murph and I asked the same thing, "Where do you plan on losing anything?"
The three of us stopped, looked at each other and then busted out laughing.
"Well, you know what they say about great minds.", I said.
Murph had to get back to the Pub. It was just about time for the lunch crowd. Carla and I roamed through a few of the shops just to get acquainted with what all was down here. Funny, all of the time we spend at Murphy's and we never noticed all of the nice little shops on the first floor of most of these buildings.
"Well, which one do you like?", I asked Carla.
"I like the fifth floor. That is really cool."
"Yeah, me too. Even though I don't necessarily want to sunbathe, it is a nice office."
"And imagine what it will be like when the wharf gets taken down."
As we just about made it to Murphy's , a silver Mercedes convertible pulled up in a parking space in front of it. As the female driver got out and fed the meter we walked up behind her.
"Whazamatta lady? You not know how to drive or sum'ting?"
Teresa turned around half startled. "Mick! Carla! How are the two of you?" She gave each of us a hug and kiss on the cheek.
Carla replied first, "We're fine."
"I'm fine. We were just looking over the offices available down here.", I said. "By the way, thanks for including me in this... what would you call it? Acquisition."
"Do you mean land deal? You're welcome. It's the least I could do. If it hadn't been for you, I'd have never known Murph wanted to buy it. He'd have never known I didn't mind getting rid of it. By the way...", she held up a large envelope, "this is the deal."
"That's the sale?"
"More or less. It's the tentative proposal. I want Murph's attorneys to look it over. This will probably be weeks in the making."
"I'm sure."
"It will also give Holly a job when she graduates, provided she wants to work here."
"That's true too."
"I found out something else. The old warehouse across the street? Benjamin owns that too."
"No fooling."
"Of course, that's still being used. There are a few more buildings down here he owns. Nothing too elaborate, but I think he was working on something down here at some point. I remember him always talking about "the waterfront". I never really knew what all he had planned, but I think Murph and his family had a lot to do with it. Even though he never said a name, he did make a lot of references to "them", the ones who own all of the property down here. I think it's kind of funny, don't you?"
"I don't know about funny, but it is rather unique. The coincidences of all of this."
"Are you going in?"
"Ah, well, I guess we could get something. It is lunch time."
"Do you mind if I join you?"
Carla jumped in before I had the chance, "Not at all. Please join us."
"Well, now you have a formal invite."
"That's great."
I held the door open for Carla and Teresa. Sylvia naturally greeted each of us as we went in. When Murph saw Teresa, he came out from behind the bar to see her.
"Good afternoon everybody. Teresa, it's always a pleasure to see you."
"Flattery will get you everywhere. I have something for you." She handed him the envelope.
"What's this?", he asked.
