Chapter 231 Flourishing

Financial pressure is just one aspect of Carter's worries, while another aspect exists in execution.

That is, constructing a modern American neighborhood!

So, here's the question! What does a modern American neighborhood look like? Carter has never seen one!

"This is insane! You're building a neighborhood? For them to live in? Even if you said it's an upscale wealthy area, I'd believe it!"

Having never seen what a modern American neighborhood looks like, Carter had to rely on memories from his past life, combined with experiences from this life. He made several modifications and drew up a rough aerial view of the neighborhood, along with house structure diagrams.

When Carter presented these sketches to Goodman for reference, Goodman exclaimed in astonishment as if he had seen a ghost.

"Are you building a park or a neighborhood? My goodness, you even included a massive swimming pool for them!"

"Cough, that's a landscaped pool, not a swimming pool. And well, I just added a bit more greenery and flowers, that's all?"

Thanks to the cheap land prices, Carter had almost free rein over the size of the neighborhood. But for cost-saving reasons, Carter didn't design the neighborhood too large.

For the first phase, Carter planned to design only forty small villas, forming a small community. These forty villas would be arranged in a ring around the landscaped pool at the center of the neighborhood, with simple roads designed to circle the island in the lake.

This design was Carter's most cost-effective approach. With 40 small villas, plus the landscaped pool, leisure areas, and road construction, the total cost was less than $1.4 million. Additionally, the circular road design would facilitate future connections with phases two and three, ultimately forming a complete medium to large-sized neighborhood.

To avoid extensive earthwork, the so-called landscaped pool, though it looked large, was more like a small water feature dug around the irregularly circular island at the center, preserving its appearance as a lake. On the island, there would be typical fitness equipment commonly seen in Chinese neighborhoods. As a child, Carter often played with these things, knowing they were easy to manufacture and low-cost, and the design was not difficult for him. Adjacent to the leisure fitness area, a large sunshade would be added, with a plastic children's slide, almost universally used worldwide.

The rest was mainly tree planting. Compared to the pavilions and flowing water in some Chinese neighborhood landscape designs from his past life, Carter felt that this design looked quite rough.

Such a neighborhood design would be irrelevant in the future booming real estate market of China. It belonged to the kind that even dogs would shake their heads at.

But placed in the United States, even at this time, it was way ahead of its time!

Not to mention now, even in the future, almost ninety-five percent of American neighborhoods hardly had any public activity areas. Of course, if one insisted, the empty grassy areas could be considered public activity spaces, but in American-style neighborhoods without fences or gates, hardly anyone would treat them as such. Some upscale communities might have swimming pools and fitness areas, but the fitness areas in American upscale communities were basically professional gyms, requiring payment for use; moreover, at this time, such facilities were rarely seen in general upscale neighborhoods.

So when Goodman saw the sketches Carter drew, he was stunned. In this day and age, even calling it an upscale neighborhood would have been believable. But then you tell me that its buyers, its future residents, are all those... those unemployed people?!

"In that case, the costs will increase significantly."

"I roughly calculated that the profit appreciation from building such a neighborhood will exceed the increased costs. After all, such a community is only found here! I just want to ask, what do you think of this design? From the consumer's perspective, would you be willing to live in such a community?"

"Of course, this kind of environment is suitable for all ages! No one wouldn't like it. But about this house design... Is this a terrace? It's too small, isn't it? What's its purpose?"

Skipping the overall aerial view of the neighborhood, Goodman picked up another house structure diagram. He pointed to the balcony and asked in confusion.

"It can be used to sunbathe and dry clothes!"

"In that case, I think it's unnecessary. With a sunroom and outdoor space, you only need to erect a few poles outside the back door to hang clothes. This would definitely be cheaper than adding such an extended part to the house!"

...

...

After the drawings were handed over to Pearson's team of designers for data annotation and professional modifications, they were quickly sent back to the construction company. Under the direction of various small "contractors," the workers began their labor under the scorching sun.

In mid-June, Carter also paid the workers their first wages as scheduled. With the workers receiving real money, their enthusiasm for work became even stronger!

At the same time, according to feedback from Genesis, the ten newly opened HT stores were performing exceptionally well!

The free tasting event held on the opening day, with a limit of one per person, consumed at least twenty thousand samples, a terrifying number. The second day saw a thirty percent return rate, with daily sales stabilizing at six thousand pancakes and gradually increasing.

While pleased with the profitability of the HT stores, Carter also breathed a sigh of relief. At least he had relieved the burden of hundreds of people's salaries, although compared to the current high labor costs, it seemed like a drop in the bucket, but it was still a significant improvement.

The success of the first batch of store trials also ignited the enthusiasm of the trainees still in Pearson City. For a while, both Douglas and Pearson cities were filled with an air of prosperity.

Everyone's faces were filled with hope and anticipation for the future!

This was completely different from the spiritual demeanor of people in other cities. For the locals, the difference seemed imperceptible. But for new outsiders like Jim Rogers, the difference was like a chasm!

After deciding to become a leisurely individual investor in the future, Jim didn't rush into work. Of course, his impatience was useless because, after agreeing to spend the summer vacation in Hawaii with Carter in May, his mind was filled with sunshine, beaches, and bikinis, leaving no room for boring market data.

Finally, after enduring until June, and with still no progress from Carter's side, Jim, who was about to go crazy in New York, got into his car and headed south. Besides catching Carter, the big pigeon, he could also visit his hometown of Alabama and see some old friends along the way.

However, as he drove along, Jim's expression became increasingly unsightly. The depression on paper was ultimately not as piercing as the real distress on people's faces. Especially when he saw the worried and thin appearances of his friends in Alabama, who lived in arguably the poorest state in America, his heart sank even more.

As the vehicle entered Georgia, Jim was still wondering if Carter had been tied up by these matters. After all, his family owned a savings bank. But when he drove into Douglas...