MAYFAIR PLACE
by Musings of Pan
It was both exciting and scary when I realized I suddenly was a private businessman, both able to do what I wanted and responsible for the outcome. I could be either a success or failure and it was all up to me.
You see, I had just inherited the apartment building, Mayfair Place, from my aunt. I had been acting as superintendent (i.e. maintenance man) for my aunt in return for a rent free apartment on the first floor so I understood the building and knew the tenants. But, in my opinion, while my aunt made sure Mayfair Place was kept clean and in good repair, her approach was a bit old fashioned for the modern world. The palms and Egyptian style bric-a-brac in the lobby would have to go.
Mayfair Place is not huge but it is substantial enough to be a reasonable size building. It has three floors which contain twenty four apartments. The building is laid out in a U shape surrounding a small garden with one of my aunt's fountains in the center. The basement contains a communal laundry room, a large meeting room for use by the tenants, storage, and my maintenance work/storage room. It is well built but old enough to require constant and sometimes expensive maintenance.
I quickly realized that the key to the apartment business is occupancy. Of the 24 apartments, five were vacant and the only reason most of the others were filled was that my aunt had not raised rents in the past ten years. Of course operating expenses had gone up over that time to the point that rents did not cover the cost of running the building. Something had to be done if I was going to be successful.
Looking around the neighborhood, I realized that the population had shifted to a younger group who wanted more modern accommodations and were willing to pay higher rents. I needed make my old building more up to date. With that in mind I went back to studying local apartment buildings which appeared to be successful and made a list of needed improvements. Redecorating the lobby and all common areas was first, contracting for building wide TV cable and WiFi was next, and I thought replacing the garden fountain with a swimming pool would be good. I was reasonably sure I could get a loan on the building to cover the cost of these things, but that would only bring Mayfair Place up to competitive. I wanted to go beyond that to desirable.
Saturday night I was partying with a group of friends at the Zago Bar when I mentioned my problem and asked what would make the building better than the others. A brain storming session followed with many silly and some good suggestions. No, I did not think a super hero character theme would work.
It may have been one too many beers or just the wildness of the party but one idea was tossed out that, while far out and definitely risky, just might accomplish my objective of making Mayfair Place distinctive. Now my late aunt certainly would not have approved, but perhaps that was a indication that I was on the right track. Josh had suggested that I turn Mayfair Place into a clothing optional building.
The next day I could not get that idea out of my mind. All I would need to add was a solid fence across the open side of the building's U to make the planned swimming pool private and Mayfair Place would be offering a different lifestyle than the rest of the neighborhood. I checked with the lawyer who handled my aunt's will and found that there was no legal problem.
Suddenly I found myself in a state of frantic planning. I got contractor estimates for the changes, even including a small workout gym. I put together a business plan showing how this could pay off a loan which I would need and got approval from my bank. The pieces were coming together quickly until I realized I needed to do the most difficult part of all. I needed to get the support of the current residents. This would be a big change for them and I was not sure how they would react. While there were no children in the building and some of the residents were as young as twenty and open minded but I also had older tenants who had been in the building for a long time and liked the way it had always been. I knew my approach to this was critical.
It was then I realized that my hang out group at the Zago Bar might be able to help. I bought two cases of beer and some munchies and invited the group over to Mayfair Place on a Thursday evening. We met in the basement meeting room after I had given them a tour of the building and grounds. Since we had brainstormed my problem two weeks ago I moved right on to describing the physical changes I wanted to make with the help of some sketches. When I told my friends about the rent increase that would be needed to make this work there were groans even though they did not live there. Finally I explained that the building would be clothing optional with the exception of the gym and pool area which would be nude only.
This was really a rehearsal for the tenant meeting I needed to hold so I asked them to react as they thought my tenants would. There were several good suggestions on how to express the changes in a more appealing way and perhaps raising rent more slowly for current tenants. But overall they were enthusiastic and supportive. They all agreed that my project sounded good and both Jean and Mark said they would like to move in.
After revising my presentation I bought two boxes of wine and two more cases of beer plus more munchies and distributed a letter to each apartment inviting them to a tenant meeting next week on Thursday evening. I would soon find out what their reaction will be.
Thursday evening at 7:00 PM most of the tenants were sitting in the meeting room sipping on beer or wine and munching on the snacks. I began by pointing out that despite rising costs their rents had not been raised in the past ten years. I then went through my presentation of the planned improvements which included answering several questions. Lastly I informed them about the change to a clothing optional building starting in six months when all the improvements were finished. This brought several gasps and much discussion. As expected, some were outraged. But I was surprised that some of the older residents did not seem upset at all. Of course I was informed that this was not something my aunt would have done. It was 10:00 PM by the time the discussion wound down to the point that I could end the meeting. I told everyone that I would be available to talk with any of them that wanted in the coming days and said that while I am convinced this will be a positive change I understood that not everyone would see it that way. So I asked any who want to leave to let me know.
