- Terre Logsdon
- Posted On
Supervisors select proposal to reopen Lucerne Hotel as college, conference center
LAKEPORT, Calif. – After reviewing two proposals submitted for future uses of the Lucerne Hotel, the Lake County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Tuesday to select a plan to reopen it as a new college and conference center and to begin the process of preparing to sell the building.
The building, purchased by the county in 2010, previously had been home to the third campus of Marymount California University.
However, after Marymount’s abrupt departure last June, the board began considering what to do with the building.
On Dec. 19 the board directed staff to issue a request for proposals, or RFP, for the purchase, lease to purchase or long-term lease of the hotel property, as Lake County News has reported.
The county issued the RFP on Feb. 7, with proposals due back to the county on April 25. A panel convened to evaluate the responses to the RFP and it was that group’s recommendation that Deputy County Administrative Officer Michelle Scully brought to the supervisor on Tuesday.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Scully said.
The county received two proposals for the hotel, one from The Romero Institute - New Paradigm College, which wants to purchase the historic Lucerne Hotel from the county and reopen it as a College and conference center and the other from a newly incorporating nonprofit, the Lucerne Area Revitalization Association, or LARA.
The founders of LARA, Elizabeth Larson and John Jensen, who also are the owners of Larson New Media/Lake County News, formed the nonprofit “dedicated to the revitalization of Lucerne and the greater Northshore community in Lake County” and submitted a proposal for a long-term lease of the hotel.
LARA proposed an event and conference center for community gatherings, special events and educational trainings, a restaurant, hotel, office space and festival venue, all with the intention of creating a new economic engine and commercial corridor in the Lucerne community.
“The panel unanimously recommends the Romero Institute proposal,” Scully reported, “and recommends collaboration between both proposers.”
Scully then noted that she found that conversations between the two proposers – The Romero Institute and LARA – had already been under way.
Romero Institute shares vision
The Romero Institute, an interfaith, nonprofit law and public policy center based in Santa Cruz, is chaired by Daniel Sheehan, president of the New Paradigm College of the Romero Institute and a famed constitutional lawyer.
The institute’s team also includes other notable professionals and scholars, among them, William Stranger, publisher of DharmaCafe Books; Seth Watchel, chair of the Department of Architecture and Art at the University of San Francisco; former Lake County District 3 supervisor Denise Rushing; and Celia Rabinovitch, Ph.D., an artist and writer who is professor and director of the School of Art at the University of Manitoba.
Proposing to purchase the building, the cornerstone of the Romero Institute proposal includes the creation of associate and bachelor of arts degree conferring programs in integrative global studies, as well as wide-ranging extension classes and educational intensives for the general public in architecture, sustainable agriculture, computer graphics, social entrepreneurship, and religious studies.
Rushing, who helped the Romero Institute develop its proposal and was on the board when the hotel was purchased, offered some historical background.
When the county was working on the purchase of the building, the county developed a relationship with the Department of Architecture and Art at the University of San Francisco – chaired by Wachtel, a founding member on this new project. At the time, the department and students began working on public projects along the Northshore.
“We had expected back then that USF would have bid on that college but they were in the midst of a major expansion at the time and their administration didn’t have the bandwidth to consider a location in Lake County, even though we had a great deal of faculty support at that time,” she said.
Marymount California University then came in and bid and got the college, Rushing said.
In the meantime, the Romero Institute and New Paradigm College tried to work with Marymount to get some space in the building to begin the founding of their college. “They were unable to get the traction with Marymount,” and Marymount abruptly pulled out, leaving the building vacant, she said.
The consortium putting forward the bid is predominantly the Romero Institute, University of San Francisco faculty with administration support, and the Earthways Foundation, the funder of the bid, Rushing said.
“We had a vision at the time as a board, and so much has happened between then and now,” she said. “It’s almost like Lake County is on the hero’s journey, right? We started out in this ordinary world with some vision of the future, we had a vision for a four-year educational institution and all kinds of redevelopment along the Northshore.”
Then the governor disbanded redevelopment, and several fires later, “We’re in a very different situation at this moment than we were when we began.”
However, just like the hero in the hero’s journey, “If you don’t give up, you can create that vision for the future,” she said.
Rushing said she believed the Romero Institute’s proposal presented the county with an opportunity to still have higher education, a conference center, an extension program with college certificates and potentially college credit, as well as community events.
“We’re pleased to have been in conversation with the other bidder on this proposal,” she said of LARA. “We love many of the things they’ve proposed and look forward to incorporating some of those items into the facility.”
She said it’s the intention of New Paradigm College to be fully integrated in the community for the betterment of the county.
Stranger, currently acting as New Paradigm College’s academic dean and the conference center program director, said he also was speaking on behalf of three other core team members who couldn’t be there, including Sheehan, Wachtel and Rabinovitch.
Sheehan, he noted, is finishing a trial now but intends to end his trial career to more fully participate in more fully in the college’s development.
He said Wachtel is a beloved figure at the University of San Francisco who has done remarkable architectural and community works at the community level around the world that have led to revitalization, and Rabinovitch, who has extensive experience in creating college extension programs, having created the art extension program for the University of California, Berkeley.
Stranger said he was excited to tell them about something that the group wants to bring to Lake County.
The idea for the college came out of a State of the World forum convened by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with Sheehan having been a key organizer.
“In order for our planet to move forward together, we had to be able to speak to everybody of every point of view, and we certainly needed young adults well-trained in understanding all the world views, all the dispositions, and trained in the processes of civility and service that would make that possible,” he said, explaining that was the original idea for the college.
A core principle of the college, he said, was that it be embedded in the community, which also gave rise to the extension program.
In sharing the vision with other like-minded colleges around the country, “It’s just excited everybody,” he said.
“The resources that I see this bringing to Lake County are extraordinary,” he said.
Stranger said he believed the college would become “a portal from the world and onto the world for all of us.”
Retired Supervisor Ed Robey, a longtime advocate of a four-year college who had worked on an effort at Guenoc for many years, said he supported it and saw it as a wonderful opportunity.
Upper Lake resident Carol Cole-Lewis said she was excited by the college proposal, explaining that it’s important for communities to have a centerpiece. She referred to Ashland, Oregon’s Shakespeare festival, and said she believed New Paradigm College could be as significant.
She also noted the strength and reputation of the team members here and through the world. “So I think this is a fantastic opportunity,” and she hoped the board would do its best to help it happen.
LARA offers its support
When the board asked to hear from LARA, Larson explained that they had looked back at what the county initially intended for the building when it was purchased. Over a year ago, Larson explained that they had begun looking for additional uses for the building, then Marymount left.
“We’re also here,” Larson said, “to offer our full support to the Romero Institute. It’s a wonderful proposal that they’ve put forward.”
Larson noted that Rushing had reached out to LARA early in the process and they began talking. In the last couple of weeks they have had meetings on how they can help and collaborate.
She further explained that the Romero Institute has an incredible vision and they have the right intention behind it, have a practical understanding of the situation, and a “serious professional and intellectual heft to do it, and they have the funding. … We do encourage you to take their proposal.”
Board Chair Jim Steele praised both proposals and the work that went into it.
Larson also thanked the board for letting the RFP process go forward. “That wasn’t the easiest path to take but we appreciate you doing it, because we love that building and we love the community, and the community is excited, I think, about what’s going to happen.”
Public input on the recommendations included Peter Hess of Cobb Valley, who supports both proposals, said Lake County is replete with many talented musicians, artists and more. Hess himself is an Oxford-educated academic, writer and chainsawing enthusiast.
“I think this is a very exciting project, to see not only what we can bring, but what we can bring out of Lake County, what will come out of the woodwork, all of the people who will be fascinated with this project and who will add their own energy and ideas to what we’re planning here,” Hess said.
Finley resident Phil Murphy stated he didn’t back either proposal. “We don’t know what’s on the table here because of the redactions.” It was explained that financials were not a part of the proposal, so that financial information was redacted.
He said the board would be making a mistake to make a decision that day. He didn’t think it’s a good deal, calling it “even shakier” than the deal with Marymount California University.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson clarified, “We’re not asking your board to approve the sale of the property today; this is not about the sale. This is about the panel’s recommendation from the RFP process,” as the county has an entirely separate process for selling properties, which must first be declared surplus.
If the board directs staff to prepare for the sale of the hotel, Huchingson explained, there will be another public bidding process – and that is what the board later unanimously decided to do. It also was explained that the board would not have to accept the highest bidder, but the purpose that fit best with their expectations for the use.
Northshore resident Larry Troutman didn’t support the process. “I read the proposals,” calling them “very ethereal.”
Troutman suggested than the RFP be reissued, and only allow private entities to make bids, not nonprofits, questioning how a nonprofit would benefit county coffers.
He said the RFP should be reissued for private entities to make bids. “You’re talking about putting county resources to follow up with panel recommendations; that costs county dollars,” Troutman said. “You already have an animal control that’s on its knees with money.”
Upper Lake resident Clovice Lewis said he was all for the ethereal approach, noting that many public and private educational systems are not really for-profit.
“I think, and I think it’s really bourne out, that the quality of a community has to do with the education of its citizens,” he said.
Entrepreneurism also is important, and he said when the county has an educated citizenry with entrepreneurs, they will see an improved community “not at this moment but in the future. And that the perspective that I think we all need to be looking at.”
Stranger spoke again about the benefits of a college, noting they bring vast sums of money to their communities, and they offer cultural benefits. The struggle of nonprofits is that they have to go out and bring in donations.
“That’s a burden that we are willingly assuming in order to bring this to Lake County,” said Stranger, noting they would be bringing both educational and financial resources to the county.
Jensen, on behalf of LARA, also praised the Romero Institute’s proposal, calling it culturally and economically a “no brainer.”
“It has the potential to transform not just the Northshore but the entirety of Lake County, and I strongly encourage the board to move forward with that proposal,” he said, noting he and his wife would give their full support to it.
In response to questions from Supervisor Tina Scott, Huchingson said the board does not need to choose the highest bid in a county sales process.
Scully explained that the building would need to be declared surplus with probably one-month process of having it listed for sale. There also will be a public noticing process.
“This has been a very positive process. It took a long time to do, it’s been open for a long time, and these are very good proposals that finally came forward from my point of view,” said Steele.
Supervisor Rob Brown said the county’s purchase of the building had not been for the purpose to fix it up and sell it, and that he had supported it with the caveat that it be used for education.
“We didn’t have a clue what Marymount was going to do. We had very high hopes. It was for that community, it wasn’t necessarily for Marymount,” he said.
Brown noted that he heard from Larson directly on June 13, 2017, on the day that it was discovered Marymount California University had left unannounced, and that she and Jensen immediately sprang into action to protect the building.
He acknowledged the amount of work Larson and Jensen had put into the effort, long before the RFP was released, and that collaboration had been going on long before the county recommended it. “Denise and their group can probably attest to the fact that a lot of their ideas and all that came from much of the work that Elizabeth and John did.”
Brown added, “There was no profit-driven interest by them to be involved in this, it is absolutely a pure labor of love for them on the part of this building and their community,” Brown said.
He said the purchase was for the purpose of an economic engine, and they hope that it can still happen in Lucerne. He said education offers that type of economic engine for communities.
“A higher education opportunity in an area like Lucerne, is really – unless somebody has some other ideas out there that are realistic – I think that’s the only opportunity that we really have on the Northshore for a true economic engine that can benefit the entire county,” he said, adding he wanted to move forward with the plan.
District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon said he appreciated the proposals and is, “in complete support of the education portion in the proposal here that’s being submitted,” but said it comes down to how they will do to generate tax revenue coming into the county and opportunities for a developer.
“I guess I’m the odd man out on this one,” Simon stated. “I’m hoping that we do some more opportunity for a sale of this property to benefit everybody in the county when we do put this thing up for sale.”
“If you’re a developer, you really see some opportunity there, he said.
Simon added, “I’m also hoping we have more to look at when this thing comes back to the board.”
Supervisor Jeff Smith moved to accept the panel’s recommendation of the Romero Institute proposal and directed staff to prepare the property for sale and return to the board for the necessary approvals, which was approved 5-0.