Convert the Keystone into a visitors center

As McCook’s community leaders search for a way to create a convention center, is it possible they are overlooking a very obvious solution?

I believe they are.

The obvious solution, I believe, is to transform an asset the community already possesses — the Keystone Business Center — into a gathering place that showcases the history and heartfelt hometown spirit of a town and a region which, I believe, reflect the best qualities of the greatest nation in the world.

Just think about it. The McCook Economic Development Corporation, in coordination with the City of McCook, already owns the Keystone building. Thanks to the visionary town spirit of the MEDC’s directors, McCook is one of the only mid-sized towns in Nebraska which has not only saved their downtown hotel but — in the process — turned it into a place of pride in the heart of the city’s downtown business district.

So, what’s needed?

How about, for starters, transforming the lobby of the Keystone into a beautiful welcoming place for visitors. If that’s done, my advice is to bring McCook’s big three for tourism and promotion — the McCook Economic Development Corporation, the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce and the McCook-Red Willow County Visitor’s Bureau — into prominent ground floor positions at the Keystone. That’s needed, I believe, because when guests visit our town, the MEDC, the Chamber and the Visitor’s Bureau need to be close at hand, ready to meet, greet and promote McCook at every opportunity. We’re very fortunate in that regard, because the organizations’ execs, Andy Long, Jamie Mockry and Carol Schlegel, are excellent ambassadors for our community.

While we’re re-setting the Keystone for welcoming purposes, in my opinion, we should do another thing. That is to turn the hotel’s original dining room into an elegant Banquet Hall which would out-shine the opulence of big city banquet facilities. The idea would be easy to achieve because a fully-functioning kitchen is already in place at the Keystone.

However, if the Keystone Welcome Center project is going to get done, we will need to embark upon a major downtown reorganizational effort. That’s because the Keystone renovation has spawned three great new businesses which currently occupy ground floor spaces at the Keystone. Those businesses are the Sew Blessed Quilt Shop, Keystone Floral/All That Pizazz and Home Instead. All three fulfill key roles in our community, which makes finding them strategic new locations the first order of business should the Keystone Welcome Center idea be adopted.

As we move forward, we need to celebrate the great success that the Keystone Business Center has already been. In the years since the business center was created with a $2,028,500 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration in 2009 and 2010, the center has been immensely successful as an incubator for business. In addition to the Sew Blessed, Keystone

Floral and Home Instead businesses on the first floor, the Keystone Business Center is the host to a score of other enterprises, including:

* Tower Rock Investments, Graff Charitable Foundation, Engineering International and Eyelets & More on the second floor;

* McCook Economic Development Corporation, Nebraska Business Development Center, McCook-Red Willow County Visitor’s Bureau, Copperstone Foods, Nebraska Department of Labor, McCook Community Foundation Fund, Nebraska Community Foundation and the MEDC Training Room on the third floor, and:

* Redline Investments, Align Insurance Solutions, ADH Photography and Adventure Travel on the fourth floor.

In addition, the McCook’s economic development team is actively pursuing plans for the full utilization of the fifth and sixth floors of the Keystone Business Center. McCook’s townspeople, as well as the residents of the surrounding area, owe the MEDC’s movers and shakers a great big “thank you” for all that they have done and are doing. This great community, nicknamed “Cookietown” during the CB era, is much better off as a result of their efforts.

Before I close, we need to talk about two other things. The first of those things is “Norris Alley,” which is Linda Graff’s wonderful idea to transform the open space between the Keystone and the historic Fox Theatre into a gathering place for McCook citizens and their guests. Thanks to the support of her husband, Mark, and the Norris Institute, Linda’s vision is already well on the way to becoming a reality.

The second thing is a vision which Ronda Graff and I shared with each other during a brain-storming coffee visit last week. Our idea is to turn the roof of the Keystone into a roof-top terrace, from which visitors and townfolks could view the surrounding city center, as well as the rail yards and the scenic Republican River Valley to the south.

Let’s build on what the MEDC, Linda, Ronda and others have already put in motion. Let’s join together to create one of the best community Welcome Centers in the Heartland of America! Let’s show the world what can be accomplished when a mid-sized, mid-American community unites to showcase its history and its heart.