Staying at Katherine Hepburn's home in the Turtle Bay neighborhood on East 49th Street, Henry looked out at the New York skyline. The streets were filled with passing cars, no longer displaying the bleak desolation of the past.
After the trauma of last year, Lower Manhattan was gradually recovering, apart from a few restricted zones.
The Financial District and neighboring Tribeca, which had borne the brunt of the disaster, were recovering relatively smoothly under the attention and efforts of political and business leaders from all sides.
In November of last year, the Governor of New York established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the official committee responsible for rebuilding the World Trade Center and coordinating all related work.
The removal of rubble and debris from the collapsed buildings was finally completed in May of this year. There was no doubt that the two iconic buildings would be rebuilt on their original sites. America had to demonstrate its indomitable spirit and announce to the entire world that it could not be defeated.
Of course, that was the public slogan. The reality was more like this: no one could possibly allow prime real estate in the Financial District to sit vacant. The miracle of Central Park could not happen over and over again.
As for how the reconstruction should proceed, the LMDC had chosen to solicit public proposals. The goal was to find an approach that would satisfy Americans as a whole, or at the very least attract wealthy people back to the Financial District in Manhattan.
Tribeca, the affluent neighborhood closest to the Financial District, had taken its own initiative. In April, local residents led by Hollywood star Robert De Niro, who lived in the area, launched the first annual Tribeca Film Festival.
The hope was to use the star power of the film industry to attract New York residents and tourists to spend money locally and stimulate the area's commercial recovery.
The local real-estate market also rebounded rapidly. Although it had not yet returned to pre-disaster levels, a steady rise could be expected in the foreseeable future.
Henry, who had picked up a building in Tribeca at a bargain price, naturally had to find a way to put the asset to use. Property taxes in the United States were frighteningly high. Plenty of people who couldn't afford their taxes were forced out of their homes and ended up homeless after the government seized their property.
Keeping an entire building in Tribeca empty would burn through Henry's savings rather quickly.
However, since he had commandeered the eleventh floor as a secret base, he couldn't afford to neglect the building's management. While most of the apartments were still vacant, Henry took the opportunity to carry out various modifications and renovations.
For a twelve-story building with one residence per floor, the first line of defense was the elevator.
To improve the building's security, the elevator had no floor buttons and didn't display which floor it was stopping at. Access was entirely controlled by key cards.
Residents had access cards that would take them directly to their own floor, the rooftop, and the underground parking garage. Visitors, meanwhile, could only reach a resident's floor after receiving permission through the intercom system. There was no chance of accidentally going to the wrong floor.
This effectively prevented outsiders from accidentally wandering into the secret base on the eleventh floor—or noticing that the elevator couldn't stop there for anyone without the proper authorization.
Since the twelfth-floor penthouse was reserved for Henry himself, the tenth floor belonged to Gilgamesh, the ninth to Thena, and the eighth had been rented to Cassandra.
To avoid being bogged down by trivial matters, Henry established a property management company. It was responsible for renting out the second through seventh floors, handling leases, and taking care of the building's management, security, garbage collection, and other miscellaneous affairs.
The employees were recruited from New York's labor market. The first floor was designated as office and staff-duty space for the management company and could also serve as living quarters when necessary.
Strictly speaking, establishing a company in a residential building violated certain regulations. But such a minor matter could be handled by hiring a real-estate attorney and changing the property's registration. What was illegal could then become legal.
More importantly, Henry didn't want to rent a separate office building just to run a management company. It was simpler to make use of his own property.
Even if he rented out the first floor directly, the rent might have exceeded the cost of leasing an office elsewhere. In other words, Henry was actually losing money by doing things this way.
But that still wasn't enough to change his mind.
Henry didn't personally involve himself much with the management company's employees. As long as applicants met the requirements, he hired them until all the necessary positions were filled.
The company's manager was an experienced real-estate agent who had changed careers—a middle-aged Black woman who had come from out of state.
Henry didn't ask why she had changed careers. Presumably, returning to her old profession in New York as an outsider presented certain barriers, making a similar line of work more practical.
As long as she knew houses and understood how to rent and manage them, that was enough.
Everything was arranged in accordance with New York's corporate laws, and formal contracts were signed with the employees. If any disputes arose in the future, they could settle them in court.
After all, the company wasn't engaged in any complicated business. As long as the money was in place and the work got done, everything was fine. If something couldn't be handled, throw more money at the problem; if the person couldn't handle it, replace them.
Henry was somewhat more careful about delegating authority to the management company to sign leases and select tenants. Besides having a lawyer familiar with New York's real-estate business review the contracts, he also studied them himself several times.
This was to prevent the management company from exploiting loopholes to sell off his property or use it for illegal purposes. With some matters, it was better to assume the worst first and establish clear rules, thereby reducing the possibility of disputes.
By the time the management company's personnel and operations were running smoothly, New Yorkers had also begun returning to the city.
Those looking for homes in an affluent residential neighborhood like Tribeca were, without exception, wealthy and influential.
They were certainly worried that another incident like the previous year's might occur. But for people working in Manhattan, especially in the Financial District, having a nearby home with convenient amenities was still a necessity.
Not to mention that even before the disaster, housing in Tribeca had already been highly sought after.
In a very short time, the vacant apartments in the building were rented out at the prevailing rental rates for the year. Prices were slightly lower than in previous years, but all the contracts were short-term, lasting one year. They could be adjusted according to market conditions later.
The only real long-term lease at a low price was Cassandra's apartment on the eighth floor. Although Henry had transferred the lease to the management company, the existing contract would not be altered.
The Spartan warrior woman herself had no idea how long she intended to stay. For the time being, she had signed a ten-year lease.
After all, as an immortal, Cassandra's wealth was beyond what outsiders could imagine. And that was merely the wealth she had accumulated casually, without deliberately pursuing riches.
Cassandra hadn't chosen to rent in Tribeca because she lacked somewhere else to live. She simply wanted to be neighbors with her old friends Thena and Gilgamesh.
Not buying a place was merely a matter of convenience.
Besides, even if Cassandra didn't pay Henry a single cent, he would never consider throwing her out.
Seriously, how often could someone ask for neighbors like two Eternals and an Elder Assassin with Isu blood?
When you have such powerful allies, why wouldn't you take advantage of them?
In any case, the management company's main task was simply to support itself and cover the property's taxes on the building. Henry never expected it to make him a fortune.
Henry's life in New York continued to move steadily forward.
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