LUCERNE >> The hotel that was built to serve as Lucerne”s centerpiece has never truly had the opportunity to fill its high-ceiling rooms or its potential. But more than 80 years after the its construction, the castle created with great expectations is opening its doors to a new kind of guest. Beginning with 22 students and a 15-year lease held by Marymount California University (MCU), the college opened on Sept. 2.
The 7,500 square feet of expansive rooms was originally built in the late 1920s as a hotel. But with some remodeling at the expense of the county and MCU”s installation of state-of-the-art technology, the hotel that has been opened for short periods of time only to be closed again is now serving as Lake County”s first university. With the exception of one professor and one masters student, all the instructors and students are residents of Lake County and their focus on serving their hometown community is strong, according to Michelle Scully, who is serving as MCU Lakeside campus” executive director.
“It”s a community adventure,” Scully said. “We”re looking forward to becoming a hub for our community. I believe that education is a great energizer and that positive energy, once created, can take on its own life and spark other things in the community as the buzz of learning spills over.”
Offering bachelor degree-completion programs in business, psychology and liberal arts and master degrees in community psychology, business and leadership and global development, MCU”s goal is to fill a gap in the county”s higher education programs. Being the first school to offer degree-completion programs, MCU will serve Lake County students in conjunction, rather than in competition, with associate programs offered at Yuba College, Clear Lake and Mendocino College, Lake Center.
Scully has worked with Yuba and Mendocino college campuses in Lake County to ensure the three campuses will serve as complements to each other.
“Yuba has strong business and psychology programs and so does Mendocino,” Scully said. “So we”re all invested in the success of each other and it”s encouraging for students at Yuba and Mendocino to be able to continue their education and stay in the county.”
Interim Dean of Mendocino College, Lake Center Steve Hexinbaugh says he”s had extensive conversations with Scully to plan how the colleges can work with each other and that the programs MCU, Lakeside offers represent a “natural progression” for students graduating out of Mendocino”s associate programs.
Yuba College, Clear Lake has also been instrumental in MCU, Lakeside”s program development and in writing the campus” articulation agreement, according to Pamela Bordisso, a Yuba College counselor.
Junior psychology and community development student Sam Massette describes the opportunity to complete his degree in Lake County as “a dream come true.”
“This is obviously the community I want to work in and going to another university would endanger the vision of doing what I want to do here,” Massette said. “I want to give back to where I”m living and enrich where I”m at.”
Before MCU, Lakeside began enrolling, students that wanted to complete their bachelor”s or master”s degrees had to attend universities outside the county and end up not returning after “getting wrangled in” to career paths outside of Lake County, Massette said.
Massette also believes the college will inspire more students to put themselves through higher education programs as it will serve as a tangible goal.
“In the greater scheme of things, this place is essentially an educational beacon,” Massette said. “For other students, it gives them hope and direction. It gives them something within their grasp to actually obtain.”
While this year”s class is small, the campus plans to grow its programs, as well as open itself up as a venue for the community.
The campus can handle between 250 to 300 students, according to MCU”s President Michael Brophy. Currently, all the students live locally and the campus isn”t hosting them in the building”s dorm facilities. However, if needed, the old hotel has the capacity to provide 100 to 150 students with traditional residential accommodations.
Although many in the county might not be able to afford the $16,000 a year tuition for classes, Scully also sees the college playing a roll in facilitating other educational opportunities. In the near future, the college will be looking toward opening the campus up to events and meetings, as well as hosting people and institutions interested in doing research in the county, Scully said.
Professor Allen Franz, who is up at the Lakeside campus for the semester from MCU”s main campus and providing on-site advising in addition to the two classes he teaches, is working to organize public lectures at the castle.
“There”s a lot of possibility and potential there and we want to be responsive to how we can contribute toward the community,” Skully said.
A grand vision
Since construction on the castle began in the late 1920s, its title has changed hands more than a few times. Its original owners, the Clear Lake Beach Co., held a “grand vision” for the building, according to MCU. The best site in town was reserved for the hotel and the wide-boulevard of 13th Avenue that the hotel sits atop allows for a picturesque view of the lake from the property.
“Some accounts mention this (boulevard) was to later be converted to a canal for a water linage between the lake and the hotel,” a MCU newsletter stated.
Its owners faced the Great Depression, though. Between a number of defaults on loans and agreements, ownership of the hotel changed multiple times. After it was finally completed in 1938, two different owners managed to open the hotel but closed it back down within a matter of years. The Federation of Baptist Churches owned the building for a few decades and held summer youth camps and adult retreats in it, according to Lake County Administrative Officer Matt Perry.
“The castle was never really accessible to the public; it was kind of a mystery,” Perry said. “When the churches owned it, access was pretty limited.”
In 2010, the county purchased the property from the Federation of Baptist Churches for $1.3 million and began work on making the castle a university. Including the price to purchase the building and surrounding property and make renovations, the county spend about $5 million from its redevelopment and general fund, Perry said.
Prior to the lease with MCU, the county put a new roof and repainted the building and under the framework of the lease with MCU, renovation was done on spaces for public use, including the classrooms, lobby and restrooms. The county also made the building American Disabilities Act compliant.
“Just about all the money we spent on renovations was contracted with local suppliers and contractors,” Perry said. “During the recession, it provided a lot of work for local contractors and that”s something we feel really good about.”
The lease with MCU also includes an option to purchase and the university will be required to reimburse the county for the costs of renovations.
“That”s one of the reasons we were able to proceed with the investment,” Perry said.
For MCU”s part, it was responsible for furnishing the building and installing the technology, as well as renovating dorm facilities when they”re needed.
The building now has three classrooms, one seating 100 students and two seating 24, equipped with state-of-the-art AV connectivity, video-conferencing capabilities and projectors. Two learning centers equipped with computer stations have also been added and a total of 20 computers have been made available to students.
Scully describes the result as a “co-joining of history and technology.”
“The castle was built with great expectations and its been dividing its time,” she said. “I hope its time is now.”
