The Team Effort (1)

"But how long would it take to knock this entire area down and rebuild it to be much simpler?" The engineer gave me a look, telling me everything I needed to know, so in order to avoid being sued, I threw in the word "hypothetically."

"Anywhere between three months or six. It depends on what you're willing to spend." She sighed. "Because we need to dismantle all the inner workings of the building. Are you sure you want to do that?"

No, I wasn't. 

"Damn." I leaned back in my chair with a severe sigh, wishing I could just sink into the floor. "Okay, leave it as is, but forego the walls and the gates, I don't want anyone in the area to feel as if I'm trying to turn their neighbourhood into downtown Manhattan." 

"What about the rest of the buildings?" Emily wondered, gathering up her plans and tightening them into scrolls. "Do you want to change those too?"