Stranger Arrives; Cigar Club Jeopardized

 “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow

I heard about Mr. R first from my real estate brokers. “He’s bought up the entire block behind your little Cigar Club,” they told me.

“Cripes,” I thought. “Just what I need. Gentrification has come to our quiet little Haitian neighborhood.”

I bought this warehouse in 2013 because it was cheap. A few years later, I converted it into a private Cigar Club – for me and my friends. We weren’t exactly welcomed into the neighborhood, but we weren’t shunned either. I came to enjoy the area as it was. And now it was going to be surrounded by big apartment buildings and hipsters.

I asked my brokers to buy whatever they could that was north of me. “It’s too late,” they said. “He’s bought all those units too.”

The next day, Gio told me that we had a call from Mr. R. “He wants to talk to you,” she said.

“I’ll bet he does,” I thought.

We met at the Cigar Club. He was shorter and a bit older than I imagined he’d be. He looked a bit like Jimmy Buffett with his hair slicked back. He wore khaki shorts and Gucci loafers.

We talked for an hour. He confirmed that he had, indeed, brought up all the land behind and to the north of me. (The property to the south was already permitted for 60 townhouses.) And he confirmed that my worst fear – that I’d be surrounded by 5-story apartment buildings occupied by young hipsters – was also true.

I told Mr. R that I was impressed that he was able to buy up so many properties in the neighborhood so discretely, without setting off a bidding war.

“We took very good care of them,” he said (referring to the Haitian homeowners).

Then we got down to talking about what we both knew was the only thing on the agenda: Was I going to sell my property to him?

“Had you asked me a week ago, I would have given you an immediate no,” I said. “But since then, I’ve been thinking about what it will be like to have the Cigar Club here, surrounded by your buildings.”

I asked him if he’d be open to selling me a 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot chunk of his complex that I could use for the Club.

“The project is for rentals,” he said. “But I’m sure there’s something we could do – even as much as a 99-year lease.”

We chatted a bit more about this and that. I told him I’d give him an answer in a week or two.

I didn’t know what to do. I considered the pros and cons of selling:

The Pros 

* I’d realize a good profit on my building. Probably about 400% in a little more than 8 years.

* I could reestablish the Cigar Club in a newer building.

The Cons 

* I’d have to close the Club for a year or two until the new building was finished.

* I’d be destroying an environment that I loved and that was much appreciated by my guests. (On the other hand… half of that environment was going to be destroyed anyway.)

It was one of those quandaries that does not have a clear answer. And extending or dissecting the pros and cons wasn’t going to make the decision any easier.

What to do?

I have this thing I do when I’m undecided about something and when a pro/con list doesn’t help. I ask someone else for their opinion. I listen to what they say and pay attention to how it makes me feel. If it makes me feel uneasy, I don’t do it. If I feel good about it, I do it.

It so happened that later that night we had our first in-person book club meeting since the COVID craziness began. We had pizza and wine and talked about Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. (I wrote about that book discussion here.) [LINK 5/21]

After the discussion, it’s our custom to break out the cigars and cognac and have a conversation about anything else that anyone wants to talk about.

This, I thought, would be a perfect opportunity to lay my Cigar Club quandary on them.

And so, I did.

I explained my concerns. I gave them my pros and cons. And then I asked for their opinions.

Their response was immediate and unanimous. “Nah, don’t sell it,” they said. “We like the Cigar Club just the way it is!”

How did that make me feel? It made me happy. So I know what to do. I’m going to get in touch with Mr. R and let him know that I’ve decided not to sell.

And if he asks why, I’ll be able to tell him, “My book club decided. They said they want to keep it just as it is.”