He spared a quick look at Armand. The older businessman had pulled his sunglasses from his shirt and was twirling them between two fingers. He looked thoughtful, but not negative. Ross decided to take that as a good thing. He advanced to the composite image that his design team back in New York had put together and paused. The central lodge was a beautiful soaring building with huge banks of windows along the front and back. Solar panels dominated one side of the roof, while a small fleet of bikes was parked out in front. Smaller cabins dotted the landscape behind it, joined by a meandering bike path.
“This is our rendering of the property. I have a number of additional slides with more details about the resort and my financials, but I thought I’d stop here and see what you think about the concept.”
Armand nodded slowly. He squinted at the screen, expression inscrutable. Ross’s heart thudded. It would be an exaggeration to say that everything rode on Herriot’s decision. Ross could try to head out on his own, but he knew how hard it was to start up a new business, especially in the current market. Getting Herriot on his side would be the difference between taking off like a rocket and pushing a stone uphill.
“An interesting idea,” Herriot finally said. “I mean, I hate it, but it’s precisely the sort of nonsense I expected you might dream up.”
Ross blinked, hoping he’d misheard. “Excuse me?”
“All that affordable family bullshit.” Herriot waved dismissively. “It’s a load of crap. Kids are expensive. Parents want discounts—they don’t want to pay for extras. Unless they’re wealthy, guilt-ridden, and ready to buy anything to satisfy the whims of little Jonny and Jane, I don’t want them anywhere near my properties.” He smiled, revealing ultra-white, Hollywood-straight teeth.
A heavy weight settled into Ross’s stomach. He’d known that his family concept was a risk. It was completely different from Herriot’s other investments, which never boded well. But after looking at the site and studying the market, he felt it was the only way he could make the property a success. “I disagree about the finances,” he said. “On the other hand, if you aren’t interested in the concept, maybe we could tweak—”
Herriot cut him off with a raised hand. “Oh, there’s no tweaking that would save this. I’m not running a nonprofit. If we’re doing families, we’re doing high-end, Club Med families. There’s a market there. A market that would actually pay.”
Ross gritted his teeth. He knew he’d hated Herriot from the beginning. This just confirmed it. “With all due respect, this is a business. It might not have the cachet of a five-star resort, but there’s a need for this kind of service, and if we make it sustainable and community-oriented, I think we will have an easier time working with local landowners and getting permits from the state land-use board.”
Herriot snorted. “Trying to re-create Hollyhock Manor?”
Ross had wondered how long it would be before Herriot brought up Hollyhock. Hollyhock Manor was an affordable housing development designed and built by Ross and his team, which had had the misfortune of opening right at the height of the market crash. Many of the families it housed had lost their jobs when the plastics manufacturing plant in town closed, and at one point, almost 50 percent of the homeowners were facing foreclosure. Ross hadn’t been able to stomach the news that so many of the families there were poised to lose their homes, so he’d stepped in and personally financed a huge buyout.
When he responded, it was with a weary familiarity. “Last year, Hollyhock homes saw twenty percent increases in value. We gambled on helping the homeowners by buying out their mortgages and refinancing the debt and it worked. No one ended up in foreclosure and the neighborhood has improved every year. Crime is down and everyone is making their payments. We could do much worse than to re-create Hollyhock.”
Now that housing values were growing so fast, Hollyhock looked like a great investment. But for years, he’d been justifying what everyone called an enormous mistake. Investors wanted quick returns, not the long process of working with families and building communities. His accountants and senior managers knew that the deal had stretched company finances to the breaking point. Even Jenna had worried that they might lose everything.
For him, it had simply been the right thing to do.
“I’m not interested in arguing about the details of your charity operations.” Herriot pointed to the screen. “Go back to the map of the property.”
Ross obliged, though he wondered what the man had in mind. Why, if he truly hated Ross’s idea, was he bothering to continue? “Yes?”