The next morning, Jason drove out with Olivia to the industrial stretch that bordered the outer edge of Bayfield County, where the coastline met the shipping lanes.
From a distance, the sprawling industrial land looked to Jason like a massive, untouched goldmine—ripe for development.
The parcel had technically already been purchased years ago by a private buyer. According to the county's original zoning plan, the land was meant to be developed into a shipping hub and light manufacturing complex. But that never happened.
Instead, the owner had built little more than a half-functioning dock and a rundown warehouse that barely qualified as a factory.
It was a halfhearted effort—just enough to satisfy county regulations, but nowhere near what the original proposal called for. The government couldn't claw it back, and the owner clearly sat on it waiting for the value to rise.
Inside the musty reception office attached to the warehouse, Jason and Olivia finally met the landholder. The man, Frank Dawson, was in his late forties, sloppily dressed, with hair matted from salt air. He smelled faintly of fish and engine oil. To anyone walking by, he could've been mistaken for a dockhand.
Frank grinned wide, exposing crooked yellow teeth."Mr. Jason, if you want my land, it's all about sincerity."
Jason stayed silent, letting Olivia take the lead.
"Mr. Dawson," Olivia began politely, "when you bought this lot, you picked up about 300 acres at roughly two hundred thousand an acre—around $60 million total. Based on today's market and nearby development, it could stretch to two-fifty at best."
Frank raised his hand sharply, cutting her off."Two-fifty? You're kidding me. You're ignoring the money I poured into this place. That dock and factory weren't free, sweetheart. No less than four hundred an acre. Period."
Jason kept his expression flat. Inside, he was already sure—Frank wasn't a developer. He was a speculator, plain and simple.
And strictly speaking, speculating on land wasn't like speculating on houses. If you bought acreage and let it sit idle, you risked losing your development rights altogether. County laws demanded at least a quarter of the projected investment be built before any transfer could happen.
Frank had done just enough—a dock, a warehouse—barely scraping past the 25% threshold to legally sell the property. And now, he wanted to cash out.
After an hour of back-and-forth, Frank only budged down to $400,000 an acre. No matter how much Olivia pressed, he wouldn't go lower.
Leaning in close, Olivia whispered to Jason, hand shielding her lips:"Boss, give me three more days. I can push him down to three-fifty. I'm sure of it."
Jason shook his head."No. Four hundred is fine. Let's move fast."
The real reason sat heavy in his mind: the county's tourism and coastal investment plan could be announced any day now. If Frank caught even a whiff of it, he'd never part with the land at this price again.
Olivia hesitated, puzzled by his urgency, but she didn't push. Jason's instincts were usually dead on.
She contacted a corporate law firm downtown—Rivers & Shaw LLP—to handle the paperwork.
Both sides signed the land transfer contract:
$400,000 per acre
300 acres total
Final price: $120 million
As Jason finalized the deal, Frank's grin stretched nearly ear to ear, his yellow teeth on full display. He thought he'd just made the score of a lifetime.
Jason, however, knew the real play had only just begun.
Jason kept a calm face, but inside he was practically grinning. If his plan worked, this would turn into explosive profit.
After securing the industrial land, he didn't stop. He had Olivia drive him straight to several nearby real estate projects.
The industrial acreage—soon to be rezoned for commercial and mixed-use—was clearly the jackpot. But Jason knew the ripple effect: anything around it would appreciate once the development hit. That meant opportunity.
It didn't take long before he noticed a struggling project on the edge of the industrial district—Seaside Estates.
The condos had been marketed as "waterfront living," but the development was too close to the industrial zone and too far from the prime beaches. Even with rumors of tourism expansion in Bayfield County, this project barely moved units.
Sure, the brochures boasted sea view units. But with poor amenities, no shopping centers nearby, and a single access road, the view alone wasn't enough to sell them.
Jason ran the numbers in his head."Average listing price is about $150 per square foot. With over $400 million left, I could lock up around 300,000 square feet. That's easily a dozen luxury condos at two thousand square feet each."
Then his grin widened."Why even pay in full? A 30% down payment is enough to secure multiple properties—triple the leverage."
Another thought struck him."Or… I don't even have to pay all the down payments. I could just put down deposits, a few thousand each, and structure the contracts so that if the developer defaults, I collect heavy damages. And if deposits can be transferred? Even better—I can resell the paper."
Jason outlined his plan to Olivia, who in turn relayed the details to the legal team at Rivers & Shaw LLP, the same firm he had used before. They quickly adjusted the contract language to protect his angle.
The sticking point was the sales office. No developer likes buyers rewriting terms, especially ones that limit their ability to walk away. The Seaside Estates contracts had the usual developer-favored clauses—if the buyer defaulted, they paid steep penalties, but if the developer pulled out, the liability was capped at a fraction.
Jason flipped that. He demanded clauses that required the developer to pay 30% of the unit price in damages if they defaulted.
Normally, no sales office would agree. But Jason wasn't buying one or two condos—he was coming in like a whale.
For a project with poor sales and sluggish cash flow, turning away a nine-figure buyer wasn't an option.
The sales director, Martin Keller, sized Jason up. From the massive down payments to the odd obsession with deposit-transfer language, it was obvious this guy wasn't buying a home. He was speculating, betting heavy on Seaside Estates' value.
Martin actually chuckled to himself. Even if Bayfield County pushes tourism, it won't help here. With the new business districts shifting inland, these units might even drop in value. But hey… if this rich fool wants to load up, let him. Better us than the next developer.
In the end, they struck a deal:
Jason paid full down payments on several prime condos—two-thousand-square-foot luxury units, plus a handful of smaller types. These had full purchase contracts.
For the rest, he locked in 200 units with just deposits, no full contract signed.
The stack of contracts was massive. Jason had practically bought out an entire tow on paper.
Martin, the sales director, stared at the mountain of paperwork and the transfer of over $400 million with a smile plastered across his face. This was the biggest deal he'd closed in his career.
And as Jason walked out of the office, the familiar system prompt echoed in his mind:
"Congratulations on completing Side Task Four. Reward: Four lottery draws."
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