LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The work to prepare the Lucerne Hotel for its new use as a college campus is continuing, with the county moving forward with plans to make the building fully compliant with federal accessibility laws in time for fall classes to begin.
Last year the county of Lake – which owns the hotel, known locally as “The Castle” – and Southern California-based Marymount California University entered into a lease agreement for the building.
Marymount recently received accreditation for the new “Lakeside Campus” – its third, along with campuses in Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro – to begin offering courses in fall 2014, Deputy County Administrative Officer Alan Flora told Lake County News.
The university's Web site said bachelor's degrees in business and liberal arts – with an emphasis in business and psychology – will be offered at the Lakeside Campus, as well as master's degree programs in business administration, leadership and global development, and community psychology.
“The development of The Castle/campus is a huge vision for the county. We're excited to be partners with you in that,” campus Executive Director Michelle Scully told the Board of Supervisors at its Dec. 17 meeting.
Scully said the university was looking forward to being able to open up the campus as a “vibrant learning center.”
In order to be ready to host students, the building has to be made fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is an expensive and complex process given the fact that the Lucerne Hotel was built in the 1920s.
County administrative staff went to the Board of Supervisors Dec. 17 to seek approval on an update on the lease with Marymount, as well as to update a county ADA transition plan and approve a contract amendment with Kappe+Du Architects for design of a new elevator.
The elevator is one of the big items on the county's to do list of renovations for the building.
County Administrative Officer Matt Perry said most of the items the county is responsible for completing in the building's renovation will be done by March. “The big exception is the elevator,” he said.
A year ago the county issued two separate requests for proposals for a firm to install an elevator. Perry said one of the bids that came in was for more than $800,000. That bid came in from Dream Ride Elevator of Benicia, the firm that currently maintains the county of Lake's elevators.
Since then, Perry said the county has explored a variety of alternatives, including a limited use/limited application elevator, which would have been a fraction of the cost of a full-scale elevator.
However, after talking with two ADA consultants, “We've concluded that we have no other option other than a full-scale elevator,” Perry said.
Currently, estimates to install an elevator in the building range between $80,000 and $500,000, according to Perry. “We want to move forward with that and ask for your board’s support.”
Earlier this month, Perry signed a $10,000 contract with the San Rafael firm Kappe+Du Architects for design of the elevator, and asked for the board's approval to add another $7,850 to the total contract amount.
That design work is expected to be finished in January, clearing the way for a construction contract to be implemented by early February, according to Perry.
A written report from Perry to the board on the elevator issue explained that demolition of the elevator shaft was nearly complete and excavation of the elevator pit was set to begin.
Perry told the board that County Administrative Office staff is exploring options on the bidding process and considering a Bay Area firm that works with the architect.
Being able to use a no bid process is expected to save two months, time that would be used going out for a request for bids, Perry said.
With elevator installation expected to take three months, saving time on the bid process would allow the county to have the work complete by the time Marymount wants to start classes in August, he said.
However, Perry said staff wasn't prepared to present no bid process that as a final option, and would come back to the board with a formal recommendation.
Flora noted that once the county had the design documents in hand from Kappe+Du – which designed the Middletown Library and Senior Center – it can get a more competitive price on the elevator installation.
Perry added of the Lucerne Hotel's elevator, “It's essentially a four-stop elevator, and that's one of the factors that makes it so costly.”
While the county continues to work on the elevator, Perry said Marymount wants to begin holding professional development and other certificate-level courses beginning in March. In order to allow that, the board had to take action to add the hotel to the county's ADA transition plan.
Flora said the countywide ADA transition plan identifies deficiencies in facilities, noting the law allows entities like the county to upgrade in a “reasonable” amount of time.
The ADA consultant's report on the building, completed by Ashdown Architecture Inc., identifies solutions and projected costs, and suggests fixes from basic signage, handrails and threshold heights, to the changes needed in ramps, and proposals for a pool lift and the elevator.
After discussing the building and its ADA issues with County Counsel Anita Grant, Flora said they decided they should solicit public input on the best solutions.
In the meantime, while the ADA improvements and elevator are being worked out, the county has several alternatives identified to make the classes more accessible if Marymount goes forward with offering the professional courses in March, Flora said.
They include offering classes online, providing program space on the building's second floor, where an elevator isn't necessary, or offering space in the county's Behavioral Health and Social Services facilities, he said.
Grant emphasized those alternatives were short-term solutions only. “This is just simply a temporary measure and the elevator will be installed well before the regular classes of Marymount start up.”
Perry also asked for the board's approval of a change to the lease agreement with Marymount for the building.
The lease signed last year initially called for the county to prepare four classrooms on the building's third floor and a fifth on the main floor. However, Perry said the lease didn't address the responsibility for making the parking lot ADA compliant.
He said the county has proposed to Marymount that the requirement for the fifth classroom be removed from the lease, with the money reallocated to the parking lot. “We've come to agreement on that.”
Other changes to the lease language included better definition of responsibility for paying utilities during the period which renovations are being completed and Marymount is holding classes, as well as Marymount's request that the county indemnify it from any issues arising from the county's implementation of the ADA transition plan.
In three separate votes, with all of the motions offered by Supervisor Denise Rushing, the board unanimously approved the amendments to the transition plan, the lease and the contract with Kappe+Du.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.