Countdown to Keystone opening begins

by Gene O. Morris, Business Correspondent

10.05.09 -

Sidewalk superintendents: Your time has arrived!
After nearly six months of gritty and grimy demolition work, the Keystone Business Center is surging forward with renovation of McCook's tallest and most renowned commercial building.

Now, at last, construction watchers can sit back and take notice as the $4.2 million renovation project turns the historic six-story hotel into a many-faceted business center.

For the public, the first outward sign of the project's progress came when the building's 164 decaying window frames began being replaced with white aluminum frames. The effect was immediate, giving the red brick edifice a sense of newness, much like people feel when they get their teeth professionally brightened.

The project has been a long time coming ... and it still has a long ways to go. But at least now the countdown can begin. Starting with this day -- Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 -- a total of 299 days remain until the projected occupancy of the building. Soon thereafter there will be a Grand Reopening, with major political dignitaries invited to join the McCook Economic Development members in bestowing a new purpose on a structure which came very close to being blasted into smithereens.

The change started taking shape four years ago when Matt Stebbins, the manager of 21st Century Systems Inc., started looking for a place for 21 CSI to expand.

He and Rex Nelson, the executive director of the McCook Economic Development office, were touring the town when Stebbins saw the Keystone and started thinking. "Is there any possibility that could be the place?" he wondered. That little seed, planted in a site tour of the town by a potential anchor tenant, set off a chain of events which -- even before completion -- has become a model for downtown renewal in rural America.

Somehow, despite skepticism and opposition, Nelson and the economic development board pulled off what seemed like an impossible task: they secured commitments of $4.2 million and embarked on massive restoration of a building which once served as the most prestigious gathering place in Southwest Nebraska.

Unfortunately, the Keystone's days of glory did not last nearly as long as McCook's visionaries in the 'Teens and '20s had hoped. Opened in 1922 following a three-year construction project, the hotel was hit by the Depression and dirt storms in the '30s, the war in the '40s and motel developments in the '50s.

By the early '60s the Keystone was on its last legs as a hotel, finally resorting to retirement living rooms to survive. First came the Defenders of the Christian Faith, then the subsequent McCook Townhouse.

Eventually, as the huge building aged and deteriorated, even retirement rooms became unfeasible. Dale and Joan Stewart tried to rescue the mammoth Main Street building, but investors did not materialize as hoped and the Stewarts had no choice but to focus their attention on their principal enterprise: the Chief Motel and Restaurant.

It was a tough row to hoe for the Stewarts. The Keystone was a dead horse, and -- eventually -- their only hope for sale of the Keystone was the efforts of the McCook Economic Development team.

There were many doubts and disappointments along the way but, to almost everyone's surprise, the EDC pulled it off. $4.2 million is a heckuva lot of money, especially in a town of 8,000 in the middle of America.

The turning point in the drive to raise that much money came when the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded McCook, through MEDC, a grant of more than $2 million to help renovate the aging, but still soundly based structure.

That was only a start. Even with that money, the project still probably would not have happened if the sales tax for economic development had not passed in McCook. Members of the McCook City Council voted to join the Keystone renovation project, pledging $1.2 million in sales tax funds to push the effort to the go-ahead stage. Even then, one last link remained. The project needed bank loan funds and they were forthcoming. AmFirst Bank, First Central Bank, McCook National Bank and Wells Fargo, all McCook-based financial institutions, stepped forward to provide a $750,000 loan to complete the multi-million dollar financing package.

Even after that, support continued. It came in the form of a $76,400 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Designed to benefit the Entrepreneur Development Center, the funding will be used for furniture, computers and audio-visual equipment.

21 CSI, a developer of software applications for military and corporate purposes, remains the flagship enterprise for the Keystone project. The company came to McCook as the result of a 2003 chat between two airline travelers: U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson and Jeff Hicks, Chief Executive Officer of 21 CSI. Upon hearing that the young company was looking for a place to expand, Sen. Nelson suggested McCook, his hometown, and Hicks liked the idea. A call to Jerda Garey, then McCook's mayor, paved the way for 21 CSI's operation in McCook. To get operations going here, 21 CSI started in a second floor room of Walsh-Brady Hall at McCook Community College.

Limited because of space, 21st Century Systems has held staff levels at 8 to 10 people, but that will likely change when the firm occupies the entire fourth floor of the Keystone, said Larry Jackson, deputy chief of corporate development for 21 CSI. "We have hopes to grow to 30 employees within three years," he said.

Evidence of 21 CSI's expansion appeared on the front page of the Gazette's Oct. 2-4 Weekend Edition. In a story headlined, "Software company plans expansion," readers learned that the company plans to add a data center in the basement of the Keystone Business Center. This will include two more enterprises: satellite imagery processing and a storage business unit. A Community Development Block Grant -- of up to a half million dollars -- has been applied for. Half of the grant will be in the form of a forgivable loan; the other half will be a low interest loan. The McCook City Council has endorsed 21 CSI's application and have selected Miller & Associates of McCook as the administrator.

21 CSI is only one dimension of the Keystone project. The immense building, with more than 50,000 square feet of floor space on the seven levels (six floors plus the basement), will have multiple purposes.

Floor by floor, the completed Keystone will serve these uses:

GROUND FLOOR LEVEL: This is the level which will most magnificently preserve the historic excellence of the Keystone Hotel. The towering, decorated columns have been restored to their original grandeur. Throughout the first floor, Keystone guests will experience the thrill of being in a historic place, walking on original terrazzo, looking up at Roaring 20's era chandeliers and observing the ambience of strong stone pillars.

The surroundings will embrace the spacious lobby and the memory-inspiring banquet and ballroom, as well as the corner office -- reserved as the downtown hub for the Chamber of Commerce -- and the room on the north, being readied for a return to use as a coffee shop and lunchroom.

THE MEZZANINE -- The historic integrity of the original structure will also be apparent in the mezzanine area, with columns, flooring and chandeliers preserved for posterity. This area will house executive offices and a spacious, functional conference room.

THIRD FLOOR -- All the walls of the hotel rooms, tiny by today's standards, have been demolished, leaving a wide-open area for the Entrepreneurship Center. The idea, which is a hot button for economic development efforts, offers a place for people with business ideas to start and grow their businesses. It's an idea which has been tried in many towns around, including Holbrook, and economic development advocates here are determined to make this a shining showplace for small firm growth. The front part of the third floor is where the McCook Economic Development Corp. will have its offices. "It will be so much more efficient and convenient than our current office space," said Rex Nelson, the person -- more than any other -- who has spearheaded the Keystone project.

FOURTH FLOOR -- The interior walls of this floor have been obliterated too. The reason is that the business center has dedicated the entire floor for use by 21st Century Systems, Inc. Compared to 21 CSI's corner room at the college, the area is spacious, encompassing more than 5,000 square feet of usable space. Even so, the anchor tenant may fill the room in short order.

FIFTH FLOOR -- Because of 21 CSI's growth potential, the Keystone Business Center developers are withholding a final decision on use of the fifth floor. It is the same size and has the same layout as the fourth floor. If not used for expansion by 21 CSI, the floor could become a ready site for industrial prospects to occupy.

SIXTH FLOOR -- Penthouse anyone? Who would have thought such an opportunity would ever come to pass in McCook, Nebraska, but it just may. The top floor of the Keystone gives an eagle's eye view of McCook, making it a provocative alternative for a few selected individuals, couples or small family units. "We've had interest," Nelson said. "With 6,200 feet of space, we would have the option of two spacious, three sizable or four convenient living units."

Linking all the floors together will be a brand new elevator, crafted and installed by the O'Keefe Co. The elevator will occupy the original shaft and will extend from the basement to the penthouse level. Other than the 21 CSI Data Center, only minor repairs will be made in the basement level of the Keystone, but the 9,500 square feet of space on the bottom level offers immense possibilities for the future.

Knowing, as we do, how fast time goes by, we will be amazed by how quickly the next ten months will come and go. As the days pass, one by one, the anticipation will build and ideas for additional uses of the Keystone will come to the fore.

Through it all, one of the most enriching things about the project will be the historical authenticity of preserving a fabulous piece of McCook's past. The outside brick walls; the Norris Avenue balcony overlook; and the stone urns on the roof will remain as they were 87 years ago.

That's history ... and it's happening still in McCook, Nebraska, U.S.A.