CH10
It is the very same day: (Now Mid May 1999) Barely!
Rick and Kate met their real estate agent at their first house. Apparently she drove while they took a taxi.
"This first place is 40 West 22nd Street, unit #2. It is 4 bed, 3 bath at 4100 square feet loft. It is listed at $7.25 million. Shall we take a look?" The real estate agent motioned for them to go first.
"Seven million?" Kate whispered to Castle, not liking the place already.
Stepping in through the doors. "It's white!" Kate looked around. One wall that had the living and dining room was all windows from floor to ceiling. The floor was literally concrete and gray. The walls, ceiling, columns, and even the fire sprinkler piping were all white.
The kitchen had an island that had to be at least 10 feet long and the entire kitchen was a sad gray color and the only counter space was the island. "There's no pantry for the food." Kate pointed out.
"The pantry is this wall of cabinets." The real estate agent countered feeling that she was losing Kate.
The master bedroom had good windows if not as big as she was hoping. "It's white." Kate commented as she looks at it. "It has baseboard heating." Kate pointed at the obvious unit along the floor below the windows.
The bathroom however had her attention. Two under counter sinks, a place to sit and apply her make-up. It had a big tub and the toilet was in its own separate room.
There was a stupid loft with stairs in one of the bedrooms. "What are your thoughts?" Their agent asked, since if she was going to help them she needed to know that they liked and what they didn't.
"I like the loft style well enough." Rick offered.
"It's all white and the kitchen was depressing and it has concrete floors. It feels cold and impersonal." Kate wasn't finding much to like, including the price.
"So something with lots of windows and more character. Let's try the next place." Their agent drove them to the next house.
"This place is 52 East 72nd Street, Unit 16-17. It is 4 bed, 3 full bath and 1 half bath, It is 4,300 square feet and is listed at $10.95 million." Their agent invited them inside.
"$11 million now?" For Kate it was getting worse not better.
"More white." Kate looked around. The kitchen was all white except for the light colored wood floor everywhere. "That is a lot of windows though." Kate looked up and found the kitchen and dining room ceiling was all windows."
"Forced air." Rick pointed out the diffusers in the wall.
The living room was French Victorian looking with light beige walls; suddenly the wood floors got darker.
The outdoor patio was large and all tile, really large tiles at that. "This is nice. Lots of mature trees. You don't get a lot of this downtown." Kate liked the outside.
"Thoughts?" Their agent asks.
"It was forced air instead of baseboard and no A/C except mini split systems." Rick pointed out.
"The outside is really nice but it's still a lot of white and the only character was the furniture." Kate offered. They were off to the next house.
"This is 213 W 23rd Street, unit #4N. It has 3 bedroom, 3 full bath and 1 half bath, 3,750 square feet listed at $5.9 million." Their agent invited them inside.
"$6 million." Kate was detecting a theme and starting to wonder just how much money Castle actually had, since he hadn't said a thing about the price.
The dining room had large rather shiny tiles. "WOW!" Kate saw one wall of the dining room.
"WOW! Now that is what I call a wine cooler." Rick was really impressed. It had four floor to ceiling glass doors that was obviously refrigerated after he opened one of them. There was space to hold literally hundreds of wine bottles. There was even a rolling library ladder to get to the bottles stored up high.
"Oh my god! What is that?" Kate was looking at what looked like a giant mural that looked like a giant snow man holding up a giant burger in one hand. "Is that a fat Jack-in-the-box guy?" Kate hated it.
Plus the tile floors extended from the dining room into the living room. The kitchen had white tile floors instead of the other tile and it was black with white walls and white ceiling.
"The kitchen has its own wine cooler." Kate points out and it wasn't one of those little below counter units one either. It was the size of a refrigerator. "I like wine, but this guy must really love wine." Kate was still staring into the wine cooler.
"OH MY GOD!" Kate stepped into the master bedroom. It had the same shiny tile as the dining and living room. And then there was the one whole wall of curtain that reminded Kate of a curtain in an old style theater except this one was grass green with white walls and white ceiling.
"Thoughts?" Their agent had heard Kate and likely knew what she was going to say.
"I like the wine cooler." Rick pointed out.
"If this place was a restaurant specializing in wine maybe. The bedrooms were terrible, especially the master bedroom and the floor was all tile." And bad tile at that. Kate wanted out of here, fast.
"This is 10 West Street, #31. It is 5 bed, 6 full bath at 5,088 squarefeet, listed at $13.52 million." This was stretching the limit Mr. Castle had given her, but this place might appeal to Kate more.
"$14 million." This place was the largest and most expensive so far.
"WOW!" Kate stepped into the foyer area. It had a lovely tile floor with a grand staircase right in front of them with a really cool chandelier made of wrought iron. It had their agent smiling.
The kitchen was large with honey colored cabinets, and had an eat in kitchen area and double glass doors leading to the dining room.
"WOW!" Kate walked into the living room and immediately walked over to the windows that gave a view looking out onto a river and the city. "I can see the Statue of Liberty from here." Kate pointed at it.
The living room floor was a variation of parquet floors. "They're Brazilian Cherry wood." Their agent informed them.
"WOW!" Rick steps into the next room before heading upstairs to see the bedrooms. "Now this is my room." It had wood walls and wood coffered ceiling. There was a corner bar with mirrored walls above the counter that seated four with wood chairs. There was even 2 separate seating areas to relax and drink while reading a book in.
"Thoughts?" Their agent asked after they view the bedrooms.
"I love the bar." Rick offered, getting Kate to glare at him since having a bar wasn't important to her.
"I did love the view, that was amazing, however we need to talk about the $14 million price." Kate added her 2 cents. It was the best one so far.
"Do you have anything else? Something not so turnkey maybe?" Rick asked her.
"Not today I don't. Your wishes about eliminating multi-level townhouses that are thin and long and tall limits the availability. However if you are willing to look at fixer uppers and think outside the box I have some ideas that I need to make arrangements to be able to view them." She replied.
"Tell us where to go and we'll meet you there." Rick said.
"Actually with what I'm thinking it would be best if I came and got you and drove you to each site." She was afraid they would drive right by and not see it.
"Give us a call for when you are ready and we'll be waiting." Rick offered getting Kate to nod her head.
"What did you think?" Rick asked Kate as they step back inside their 2 bedroom apartment with almost no furniture still and still no dining room table.
"That last one was amazing, but we don't really need a bar Castle. Alcohol isn't our life." It made Kate think about her drunk father that she hadn't even checked in on for the last month, though she was picking up the mail and paying the bills using her money.
"How about the wine cooler house?" Rick queried since they both were drinking a fair amount of wine lately.
"I like wine Castle, but it would take tens of thousands of dollars to fill that thing and the house itself was, …" Kate shook her head. "In fact all of the others were white, especially that first one."
"Stark, bare and not an ounce of character or it was someone else's character." Rick had to agree. "But it was our choice to avoid multi-level town houses which is what Manhattan has a lot of." Rick pointed out.
"I know Castle, but do we really want to live in a place that we can practically reach each wall while standing in the middle and climb stairs to get from the master bedroom on the 5th floor to the laundry in the basement?" Kate asked him.
"Laundry chute?" Rick offered, not liking the look Kate was giving him. "Maybe tomorrow will be better." Rick said hopefully.
"Can we really afford $14 million Castle?" All Kate saw was dollar signs. Rick however started smiling. Kate had said "we."
"I won't lie, $14 million might be stretching it a bit. The first Derek Storm book had been doing well. Provided the next ones do just as well we could afford even more than $14 million. Don't worry too much about the money Kate." Rick knew he had it, though it was a stretch.
"I'm still going to worry Castle." Kate pointed out. Since they had missed lunch in favor of looking at homes, Kate got to work on an early dinner.
Kate was stepping out of the shower with a wide smile on her face with Rick's arms still wrapped around her from behind as he continued to kiss her head, neck and shoulders. This was after they had fun in the shower and that was after 3 rounds of making love to each other last night.
Kate spun in place so she could wrap her arms around Castle. "We need to get dressed babe, she's going to be here soon for more house hunting." Kate pointed out while kissing him instead of trying to get out of his arms.
Finally breaking from the kiss. "Babe?" Rick arched an eyebrow. It wasn't the first time he had heard Kate use that word before, but it was the first time he had been able to question her about it.
"I… It's your new name babe. Live with it." Kate had been so close to telling him that she loved him, but the words just wouldn't come. She needed more time. What she did do however was bury her face into his chest and smell him.
This time he smelled like shower gel and Castle, really fresh, causing her to kiss his chest and rub her nose into his chest, feeling his arms wrapped around her holding her close.
Kate didn't want to move. She really wanted to stay right here for as long as possible. It was just that they didn't have the time. "More homes Castle." She lifted her lips to give Castle a quick kiss before turning for the spare bedroom. One more reason to find a new place. She had to leave him to get dressed.
An hour later they were standing outside of where their agent took them. "Ellen?" Rick tilted his head to look up.
"Try to keep an open mind, this is one of those out of the box options you asked for." Ellen their real estate agent told them and walked them inside.
Inside didn't look any better than the outside. "Ok I know it's a bit of a stretch but think with me. On this level would be the foyer mud room. One floor up with stairs going around the outside wall would be the first two bedrooms. Next floor up would be your master bedroom. Next floor up would be kitchen and dining. The next floor up would be living with floor to ceiling windows on all sides. Then there would be a roof deck with maybe a hot tub. Maybe even a small garden area." Ellen tried to get them to see it since all there was now was a big square concrete building with no windows at all.
"What is this building?" Rick asked.
"It's an old abandoned water tower that used to feed part of old world downtown New York City." Ellen told them. They asked for out of the box and this place was that.
"It's still all stairs." Kate pointed out which is what Ellen was afraid of, so it was off to the next site.
They pulled up and stopped next to a really large building that had a large barrel roof on top.
Stepping inside had Kate and even Rick dropping their mouths open. It was mostly one large open area with a large white barrel roof with exposed wood beams with 10 brick arches on either side.
The barrel roof itself had skylights going down the center from one end to the other with lights hanging from each beam. Then there was what was in the middle or more accurately, what there wasn't. "What is this place?" Rick asked looking it all over.
"It used to be a public community pool that has been abandoned." Ellen explained.
It explained the giant hole in the middle just not the tattered cloth hanging from the roof.
"What are we supposed to do with it?" Kate was looking around too, but mostly looking down into the giant hole.
"That level over there on each side would be the main floor, even with the top of the blue walls that you see. The pool would be the basement that you might actually be able to have an indoor pool, since you already have a big one.
I would keep the exposed roof as is with the skylights. Put the kitchen on one end with open dining and living rooms. Put up a wall to division off the bedrooms and bathrooms plus this space comes with a lot of land. Granted most of it is parking right now, but you could change that with a landscape architect." Ellen offered.
"You would need a structural engineer to decide what it would take to put in a floor and of course a pool guy if you wanted an indoor pool." Ellen added.
"Yeah, in the basement." Kate points out.
"Thoughts?" Ellen asks them.
"We would have to stay where we are during construction that could take what, a year or two?" Kate kinda wanted out sooner rather than later.
"It would be big and open with natural light." Rick pointed out. "If we could buy it cheap we could maybe even keep the pool." Rick liked the idea of a pool. "The floor would be our choice."
"And lots of landscape work." Kate remarked since the parking lot was large and all black top.
"I have one more option for you. It's also a little outside the box however it is already under renovation so you could move in quicker while still being able to select the materials and finishes." Ellen said.
"This is 455 Central Park West. This is 4 bed, 5 full bath at 5,000 Square feet and listed at an even $10 million. Keep in mind the renovation is not complete so all you will see is bare floors and walls." Ellen warned them.
"This is a 19th Century church that is being converted into condominiums. The one I'm going to show you has the most to offer out of all of them." Ellen explained.
"A church at $10 million." Kate questioned.
There was a library/TV room just inside the front door. "This could be a perfect room to write in." Rick liked it.
They started with the downstairs after going around a corner and down a hallway before coming back upstairs. Two of the bedrooms were kind of small with little bathrooms in each and minimal closets.
The master bedroom was large and the master bathroom was also large with good potential. Plus it had a large dressing room and three more closets.
Upstairs was a massive living and dining room. "WOW!" Both Kate and Rick dropped their mouths open to fall and hit the floor.
"This used to be the chapel area. The glass windows on the side look out onto a garden patio area that is also yours though other units can see into it unless you have someone install some privacy screens." Ellen explained.
The space had 20+ foot ceilings with a wood 19th century vaulted ceiling. The 5 windows in this room were 15+ feet tall starting at just above the floor, though one set of windows had glass doors that allowed access to the outside patio area via a fire escape that was going to be replaced with a spiral staircase. It also had one of two wood burning fireplaces.
"What's up there?" Kate pointed to a space that was above the kitchen.
"That is a mezzanine area that I thought could be a sitting room slash library. There will be a circular metal staircase here to allow access. That area also has the second wood burning fireplace." Ellen remarked.
Right now the only way up was up a metal extension ladder, so up went Rick and Kate. It allowed them to get a good close look at the wood ceiling. "Sand this down and re-stain it, it would look amazing." Kate commented. "I could learn to like being up here in a nice, large, stuffed comfy chair reading."
Back downstairs was the kitchen, butler's pantry with laundry. "Central air." Rick pointed out.
"Going to be difficult to keep that living, dining and mezzanine area cool with that much area." Kate replied.
They were headed for the front door to go see the amenities that came with the condo. "What's this?" Kate opened a door in the hallway near the front door.
"There is an elevator between the two floors?" Kate questioned, not really seeing the need for one. It was large for an elevator. It was easily an 8x8 foot space and it was hydraulic.
"The condo comes with Concierge, garage for two cars, communal roof deck, lap pool, health club with weights and exercise equipment, and a children's common playroom." Ellen told them.
"Well I know where you'll be." Kate bumped Rick with her hip.
"With you right next to me. Time frame for completion?" Rick asked since Kate would be interested in that.
"As you can see a lot of the materials are already here." They saw construction material everywhere.
"So it's too late to make any changes." Kate was bummed about that.
"Probably in some cases yes, however as you saw all the floors are solid wood, just waiting to be sanded and stained. You would likely get to select your own stain. The same for the ceiling. I can just picture it being sanded with a dark stain with maybe a slightly lighter stain for the floor.
The kitchen counter, cabinets, and appliances have not been ordered yet so you should be able to select what you want. And of course everything needs paint." Ellen answered.
"Thoughts?" Ellen was hopeful. It was more complete and had the most built-in character she knew about unless they were willing to look at town houses.
"I don't know about the elevator but I actually have a thought about that." Rick offered.
"I prefer four bedrooms to five." Kate added. "It's a little hard to see the final result plus we still need to find out how long it will take to finish, but that main room with that ceiling and those windows..." Kate liked that area a lot. It had so much character.
"We need to have some work done on the patio to gain at least a little privacy." Rick remarked.
"Does it have to be $10 million?" Kate still couldn't believe that Castle had that kind of money. "We don't even own a car." Kate said.
"The car is your problem as for the home price that is what you have me for. Tell me what you want to offer and I will fight for you to get it at that price." Ellen worked for them, not the seller.
"Give us a minute?" Rick asked Ellen as they are standing next to the pool. "What are you thinking? She has shown us a number of places. The one with the bar was the only one from yesterday that you really liked."
"The view at that place was amazing and except for that bar area the rest of the place didn't have much character." Kate liked it, but the bar felt like a waste to her.
"The water tower?" Rick asked.
"It's like the pool. It'll take a year or more to renovate it. That still left all those stairs unless there was an elevator installed but that would take up floor space." Kate comments.
"Space we didn't have to lose to an elevator. What about the pool?" Rick queried.
"That building was huge Castle and the land needed just as much work. That open space might be nice, but we would need an architect, engineer, landscaper and pool consultant." Kate pointed out.
"With the proper design inside and out that place could be amazing. Picture perfect kind of place inside and out." Rick saw tons of potential let alone the chance at having a small indoor pool. Maybe it could be connected to an outside pool with a wall that you had to swim under.
"And the church?" Rick asked about the property they are still at.
"That main room with that ceiling and those windows with that mezzanine was really nice." Kate really liked that part and could see her spending her days up in that mezzanine in front of a burning fire.
"While the kitchen was closed off, it was still large. Was it large enough for you? Can you handle being hidden away in there while cooking?" Rick knew the kitchen just wasn't his space.
"Maybe we can talk them into putting in a pass-thru into the dining room." Kate said. "What did you want to do with that stupid elevator?" It only went between two floors, how ridiculous was that?
"I was thinking of removing it and turning that area on each floor into a panic room. Hide the metal door behind a hidden panel in the hallway. Hang cameras everywhere along with an alarm system and route all of it to those or that room. Maybe put in a trap door to allow us to get from one room to the other that can be locked. Jack?" Rick wanted his opinion on all of this.
"The panic room is a good plan along with the security system. The major problem with this place is the distance between here and a car that you don't have. Also the windows and glass doors in the main area are a concern. However I have an idea about those.
The developer for this condo is based in Chicago and is having trouble selling them because they are overpriced, plus it is a little close to a low end of Manhattan that hasn't been updated or well maintained in years.
For this reason he will likely be willing to sell it at a price far under the requested $10 million. The location is however directly across the street from Central Park." Jack informed them of what he has found out. "If you purchase it, it will bring the development up to 56% occupancy which will make your insurance company a little unhappy. If he brings his pricing down that will likely change quickly.
Plus I have the ability to monitor the security system 24 hours a day and can alert you to anything or anyone."
Rick simply turned to look at Kate since he had already made up his mind.
"Just so long as it is way under $10 million and we get to choose the finishes." Kate pointed at Castle. Castle's response was to kiss Kate soundly.
They had a new home, they just needed to haggle about the price and have it furnished in a manner that made Kate happy.