The conversion of a closed down hotel into the campus of a trade and technical school may be what is needed to transform a neglected stretch of Sierra Highway in Lancaster. When the University of Antelope Valley opens its new campus this summer in the former Antelope Valley Inn, the guest rooms will have become classrooms and labs, the pool filled in to create an open courtyard, and a back building transformed into a dormitory. School founders Marco and Sandra Johnson don’t want to stop there, however. The couple envisions a “university town” connecting the Sierra campus with its existing facility on 10th Street West as well as taking advantage of the city’s efforts to make downtown a destination spot for residents and visitors. The Johnsons are not unrealistic about the time it will take for that transformation and know there is still a ways to go to accomplish what they want along the gritty four-lane roadway dotted with small businesses and adjacent to the Parkview residential neighborhood. “We have seen the potential it can be,” Marco Johnson said. The couple has the backing of city officials, which encourages the reuse of existing properties as has been done for the school. The city also stepped up by having an Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus line re-routed to serve the school, said Vern Lawson, director of economic development. The Sierra Highway was the main road through Palmdale, Lancaster and north into the desert before the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway was built. The highway was also part of the original alignment of Route 6 connecting California with Massachusetts. As a child, Marco recalls diners lining up for brunch at the restaurant of the hotel he now owns. He and Sandra attended their high school prom in the hotel’s banquet facility. As the freeway became “main street” for Lancaster, attracting the new business growth, Sierra Highway and nearby Lancaster Boulevard through downtown experienced a decline. Private sector help In recent years, the city has taken steps to reverse that decline with the help of private enterprise. The changes taking place in downtown would not have been possible without developer Scott Ehrlich and his InSite Real Estate Development Corp. Ehrlich started by turning the Essex Hotel into senior housing and followed it up with an artists loft building, a deli, and the soon to open Bex restaurant. To say the Johnsons are playing a similar role on Sierra Highway would not be an inaccurate analogy. Just as Ehrlich has been a catalyst for change in downtown, the repurposing of a major property (10 acres) by the Johnsons may be the catalyst needed for that part of the city. That is the hope of Andy Holmberg, co-owner of The Inn of Lancaster, located next door to the Johnson’s school. The area had been neglected by the city under prior mayors but with the university campus and the remodeling of the Desert Inn hotel into the Shadow Park Inn & Suites north of his property needed changes are being realized, Holmberg said. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies have stepped up patrols to deter loitering by prostitutes and “low lifes,” he added. “People need to learn (the area) has improved and not as bad as it used to be between Avenues J and K,” Holmberg said. “It is pretty good now.” The Johnsons though are not just interested in rehabbing property along Sierra but have a larger mission of providing career training that drives the economy of a healthy community, said Elizabeth Brubaker, director of housing and neighborhood revitalization for the city of Lancaster. “They are a Scott (Ehrlich) but in a whole different way,” Brubaker said. Started as the Antelope Valley Medical College, the school underwent a name change last year after receiving accreditation from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a process that required visits from officials with the U.S. Department of Education. Culinary arts As renovation work continues on the new campus’s classrooms and labs, culinary arts students are already using the kitchen and serving meals in the banquet hall for private events and on holidays such as Easter. The students, working under the supervision of an executive chef, will also cook for the restaurant, which will be open to the public. The food the students prepare for the private parties will go beyond what is typically served at banquet halls. “They see that as a challenge because they are able to create all different meals,” Sandra Johnson said. The couple’s long-term plans are for a 10,000 seat stadium they are calling the Pioneer Dome that would host sports, concerts, rodeos, and other events. The Johnsons have a piece of property in mind for where they want to build and the owner is receptive to the idea, Marco Johnson said, adding that his alma mater, the University of Hawaii, has committed to putting the Lancaster school on its athletic schedule. An ambitious project, yes, but one the Johnsons know won’t be completed for another three to five years. “Look where they are today and where they started they are no more ambitious than that,” Lawson said.
School’s Expansion Anchoring Redevelopment Effort
