At the very beginning of 1998, Lloydie’s sister called me out of the blue. She told me that her brother was ready to sell the remainder of his parking lot empire, and had asked her to offer me first right of refusal.
“How is my old friend doing?” I asked Lloydie’s sister. “Living like a Marley?”
She laughed and told me he’d bought a beautiful house in Oracabessa.
“Right on the water,” she said. “He has his own private beach.”
“Whaaaaat?” I replied, unable to control my surprise. “Lloydie left Clarendon behind?”
“When you retire back a yard, are you heading back to Vineyard Town?” Lloydie’s sister asked, a bit sharply.
And I had to admit, she was right.
I told Lloydie’s sister I was interested, then swung by Clarendon Collision later that afternoon- I had a feeling this might be a path that Prentiss would want to walk with me.
“Boss man!” I called out when I saw him. He walked over. We bumped fists and made our way to his office.
“I have an investment opportunity I think you and I should jump on,” I began as we sat down. “And it’s coming via Lloydie’s sister.”
“I talked to Lloydie the other day, and he didn’t mention anything to me,” Prentiss said.
“Maybe he figured you wouldn’t be interested,” I replied. “It’s very utilitarian.”
I then laid out Lloydie’s sister’s offer. The last of the parking lots, up for sale.
“She sent me a list of addresses,” I explained. “They’re all very close to a hospital or a municipal building or right by where I think developers are starting to snap up property.”
“Sounds interesting,” Prentiss replied.
“None of this is quite ripe to take advantage of,” I cautioned. “We’d have to sit on it all for a while still, but it’s attractive enough to consider. It’s not a complete steal, but the price is decent enough to make it worth our while as long as we’re willing to be patient.”
“I guess Lloydie’s just ready to be done with it all here,” Prentiss mused.
“And what about you?” I asked.
By this point, Prentiss had entered his fifties as the sole owner/operator of Clarendon Collision. I knew he’d spent years in the trenches, getting his business to the level of sterling reputation it currently enjoyed. But I’d never asked him about any type of long-term goals. Based on my own experiences with PanStar, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Prentiss told me he too, was considering selling out and moving on.
“Funnily enough, an opportunity like this is coming at the perfect time for me,” Prentiss said. “I’ve just been starting to consider bringing in one of my best workers as a partner. These parking lots would be a good way for me to start diversifying.”
“Linky? You’re gonna sell Linky part of the garage?” I asked.
Prentiss nodded.
“Remember when he used to borrow fifty bucks from me every week to help fund his cee-lo habit?” I laughed.
“Yeah, man,” Prentiss said. “But he always paid you back on time.”
“Okay, so are you in?” I asked. “I just sold one of my apartments out in Panama- that old American man made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. So, I’m ready to go.”
“What’s the day-to-day going to be?” Prentiss asked.
I knew Prentiss had very little interest in being overly involved in managing anything else in his life. For him, passive income was the dream.
“They’re all leased out now,” I replied. “So, we just take over the leases. It’s mostly five-year leases, so once something comes up for renewal we just sit back and start collecting money. No landlord drama, with people complaining about the toilet backing up, or any of that bullshit.”
“Sounds like a deal to me,” Prentiss said.
We agreed to meet with our lawyers that week, to draw up papers on our new partnership.
And I called Lloydie’s sister that evening and accepted the offer.
