Chapter 17 - THE ALTERNATIVE
Another lender appeared.
Coastal Commonwealth Bank.
Less cash.
Stricter controls.
Longer maturity.
Required sale of a noncore Orlando property.
Dad hated selling Orlando.
He bought it after Grandmother’s death and called it the fourth pillar.
It had never produced expected returns.
Independent advisers recommended sale.
Tawny supported it.
Mom stayed silent.
I had no vote yet.
First Commonwealth did.
It asked my view because transition review was active.
“Sell.”
Dad learned.
He called through attorneys.
“You’re dismantling everything I built.”
“You bought Orlando three years ago.”
“With family capital.”
“Which is why family capital should stop subsidizing it.”
He sounded tired.
“Your grandmother always hated growth.”
“No. She hated unexamined growth.”
“You barely knew the business when she died.”
“That’s true.”
“You think spreadsheets make you wiser than people who built it.”
“That is also sometimes true about me.”
He stopped.
I continued.
“But the Orlando property is losing money.”
“Temporarily.”
“How long counts as permanent?”
He hung up.
The board approved marketing Orlando.
Sandstone and Coastal entered final negotiation.
Employees retained jobs.
Executive distributions suspended.
Tawny’s TH Social House contract terminated and rebid competitively.
She could bid like anyone else.
She chose not to.
May you like
“I need to know whether anyone would hire me without Dad,” she said.
That was the first adult thing I had heard from her in years.
