From: "Kent Watkins" <kenmar@ix.netcom.com>

Date: Tue Aug 21, 2001 4:12 am

Subject: My Brief Report on Weekend Trip to S.C.

Here's a short report on my three days in Sioux City and some Central updates.

More later, but I just got home and it's late.

Finally, today, I met with the NuStyle people in Omaha before heading to the

airport. I was very impressed at their attitude and enthusiasm and approach to

the project. They are doing some super stuff in Omaha with refurbishing a

number of old warehouses and have had much success with renting them up, 300

units here, 100 units there. Old schools, too. And office buildings near the

Orpheum theater in Omaha. Having an auditorium and a gym will be an

interesting challenge, but they are very sensitive to everything, and of

course, the historical tax credits come with certain restrictions. The parking

seems to have been solved, without a great sacrifice to anything esthetic or

historic. They will be meeting with COHA on Thursday to begin in earnest on

design and construction. COHA is a .1% non-profit partner, which is actually

an important arrangement for the Iowa historical preservation people. I have

other information but will stop here as this note is already too long, but

that's the way the cookie crumbles.

*************************************************************

From: "Kent Watkins" <kenmar@ix.netcom.com>

Date: Thu Aug 23, 2001 9:13 am

Subject: Exchange with NuStyle

I received a short note from NuStyle after meeting with them, and I replied to

them. In case you're interested, here they are. Comments welcomed.

*************************************************************

Beth and Kent,

Thank you for taking the time to share your projects that you are working on.

The Castle is a fascinating building rich in history and bursting with stories

and we are extremely pleased that you both are documenting things so well. Let

us know how we can be of any assistance as this project moves forward.

Thank you,

Julie Stavneak (NuStyle)

*************************************************************

Hi Julie,

1. Thank you for your nice note. I have passed it on to Beth in Las Vegas. We

enjoyed meeting you and Todd and appreciate the time you took to give us a

better feel for the project. I am glad that someone like yourselves will be

involved in this effort. As you know, so many years has gone by in earnest but

ultimately quixotic attempts to fix the building - symbolic blood, sweat, and

tears by many dedicated individuals and organizations like COHA, II-VII Corner,

the CHS Virtual History Project, and other entities.

So, hopefully, this will be a fitting closure to that stage for 38,000 'ghosts'

and the beginning of something of functional value to 70 plus households. The

memories in that building since 1892 can rest easily then, thanks to you. And

the synergy between the new 'caretakers' and the CHS alumni presence will

continue with the inclusion of the auditorium, gift shop, and other physical

markers, in addition to the CHS website and the CHS Virtual History Museum.

2. From a national and international media standpoint, you have a bonanza here,

from the very beginning. This is a special building, even more so than a

regular warehouse, which I love as a structure. Physically imposing, rising up

out of the Midwest prairies like the Castle in the mists of Avalon, it evokes

all sorts of mysterious and off-the-wall reactions.

For example, while I was there last weekend, I saw a group of absolute

strangers (known universally as "tourists") come into the gift shop and want a

tour because they had been driving by on the interstate and saw this castle on

the Hill like something in a medieval town and they had to get off and search

it out just as we would in Tuscany or the Bavarian Alps. Is that a PR dream or

not!

Castles represent something primordial in the human psyche, reinforced by the

fairy tales and other scripts that are put into our heads by our culture from

the beginning of our childhood. You are building apartment units, yes, but you

are also fulfilling some subconscious fantasies of everyone. It is a universal

symbol, a cachet, and how you deal with that - or not, will give NuStyle its

distinctive branding.

The Castle is a unique organism, because of all the "living" that took place in

here, all the coming of age stories that happened, all the hopes and dreams

that started here, the transition from family dependence to adulthood.

Too bad all of them can't be captured, but even the fraction that has and will

be represents a cross-section of the human condition that we call growing up.

Nostalgia's root meaning is home-sickness and whether one comes "home" only in

the mind, or actually visits the Castle for a reunion, the feeling is a strong

one once the 'disease' is caught.

Rituals are important for a clan or tribe to maintain itself - whether in

reunions, egroups, websites, or ground-breakings. I hope that either you will

be able to document the progress as you go along with your own website, which

we could link to easily, or we can set up a specific "box" that would describe

the progress being made to an interested audience.

This outreach could be anything from scanning the current floorplans into the

website to slides of the progress to a periodic report from you to having a

streaming tape or camcorder recording a specific location like the murals or

the auditorium where one could sign in like a security guard and see that

particular historical preservation space at all times. That's something that

the national media likes to pick up.

The fact that there is a gift shop still in the building that has been

abandoned since 1972, dedicated to a specific small market, attests to the

uniqueness of the place and how it is a PR dream. It is surrealistic; in fact;

maybe keeping the gift shop there where it is, will keep the focus on the

transition because people can still be coming to the place. Hard hats with a

Central High and NuStyle logo could become another item to sell as well as

spread the word about the uniqueness in news and TV stories around the nation.

A virtual history of each classroom can be posted on our site that will serve

as a marker for that particular apartment or apartments. Alumni could enter

their memories of that space on the website and reporters around the country

could access it and write stories about it.

Good luck on your meeting today. I will be back to you with some specific

thoughts, which will be more focused and cost-effective, that is, cost nothing

but your interest and hopefully pay off for your bottom line. You have many

constituencies that you can excite with this project - from international to

national to special interest groups like the National Trust for Historic

Preservation to prospective tenants to the bottom line people. If anyone can

pull this off, you would appear to be the best!

The journey begins! Another death-rebirth happening!

Kent Watkins