June 1999:
After weekly VPs meeting, two of my colleagues corner me with a suggestion for a documentary. Sierra Arts, the local arts foundation, is going to begin renovation on Reno's oldest hotel. I subsequently get together with Pat Smith, the executive director of Sierra Arts, to learn more about the renovation project.

August 1999:
I write a grant proposal that outlines the documentary concept and submit it to the US Bank Foundation.

October 1999:
US Bank Foundation agrees to fund the project! We can start work.

November 4, 1999:
Sierra Arts holds a press conference to announce the start of the Riverside Redevelopment Project. All the players are there: the mayor, the city manager, a city councilman, Sierra Arts and Artspace. The attending crowd is small but enthusiastic. Only one local news crew covers the press conference besides me. Pat Smith retired from Sierra Arts and Jill Berryman now leads the effort.

December 10, 1999:
I connect with Will Law, the project manager from Artspace Projects as well as Jeff Frame the project architect. They agree to let me go with them on an inspection of the hotel. What a dump! Since there no electricity we have to shoot with available light, which is a bit scarce. The halls are dark and very narrow. The rooms a small and most show extensive damage from earlier demolition procedures.

December 22, 1999:
The official groundbreaking ceremony takes place. Sierra Arts and the City of Reno put on a good show under a big white tent. Good attendance. All three news stations send crews.

January 2000:
After a few phone call I connect with Tom Pellett, the project supervisor from Q&D Construction. I explain our documentary project to him and he agrees to let me shoot during construction. He tells me to come Thursday because the first on-site meeting will take place. This will be his first meeting that includes Jill Berryman, the new executive director of Sierra Arts, Will Law from Artspace Projects, and Jeff Frame, the project architect.

Tom Pellett and I agree that I can come every Thursday to shoot the demolition and renovation process.

January 27, 2000:
I arrive to shoot but everything is shutting down. The workers are heading home. Tom just got a stop work notice due to asbestos contamination. Soon Jill and Jeff arrive. It's a very sobering meeting. The project is at a standstill until the cleanup is done.

March 9, 2000:
Work finally resumes at the Riverside. Tom and crew lost 45 days. He has to play catch up or the renovation project will lose major funding. You can feel the tension — and determination.

April 2000:
Tom and his crew are almost back on schedule. He is pressing his subcontractors to keep moving. He has crews on floors 5 and 6 on working on layout as crews on lower floors are still ripping out everything but the concrete pillars. One floor is still pretty much intact but Tom expects to have all floors cleared by the end of April.

May 2000:
We fly to Minneapolis to visit Artspace Projects home office, visit some of the artist lofts there and interview Artspace executive director, Kelley Lindquist. Our guide and handler, Sarah Parker, is great. She takes us to two lofts projects in downtown St. Paul. We also check out a third one known as Frogtown. Pretty impressive. The next day we interview Kelley on the roof of the Artspace Projects building. We also interview Chris Velasco who is working on the Reno project and, of course, Will Law. We conduct Will's interview inside an old theatre that Artspace bought and moved next door to their building. It's an amazing story. The dark interior is a great backdrop for the interview with Will.

Work in Reno is moving ahead. Tom's crews are all over the site and on every floor. Great visuals.

June-August 2000:
The Riverside Hotel is just about gone. The new lofts are taking shape and you can feel a new life emerging.

July is Artown in Reno. The big signature act is Project Bandaloop. This group plans to a dance performance on the face of the Riverside. I spend Saturday and Sunday before the performance meeting the dancers and shooting the rehearsal. We plan to feature the group on our arts magazine series, ArtBeat with Betsy Dickinson. And I know I will include some of their performance in the documentary. It's a stunning work of dance, rock climbing, and strength.

Sierra Arts sends out applications for artists who want to live in the Lofts. Interviews are arranged for August. I cover two days of interviews. I want to include the artists' perspective in this documentary. So far this had been a story of construction crews. Maybe now we can capture the anticipation of the new tenants.

September 2000:
Work on the building is very close to completion. All the walls are up; the apartments are getting painted and the kitchen cabinets hung. The work is more detailed now so I stop shooting.

I get word that the first batch of artists will be selecting their apartments. I arrange to go along for the walk-thru. A small group of people are hanging about the new front door to the Riverside when I arrive. I introduce myself to a few. They're excited about the space. The building manager arrives and after brief explanation of the procedure, she takes them inside. As soon as we land on the fourth floor the group scatters. I briefly follow one group, then another. It's like chasing a bunch of chickens around the barnyard. Then my camera battery dies. End of shoot.

October 2000:
The big celebration for the artists moving into their new home takes place on October 17. The City takes the lead on producing this event. And it is a big event. All the usual suspects are there. The turnout is excellent. A few of the new tenants perform for the audience. And of course, there are handshakes, applause, and hugs for everyone. Tom Pellett should be the happiest man in the bunch because he got the project back on schedule and completed on time.

November 2000:
We head to Seattle to follow another aspect of this story. Seattle's Pioneer Square is known as one of the best example of a successful urban redevelopment story involving artists. Reno hopes one day to be a Seattle-type success story. The head of the King County Office of Cultural Affairs, Jim Kelly, just happens to be my brother so making the connections goes smoothly. But Jim warns me that Seattle is suffering its own redevelopment blues. Its real estate market is so successful that artists are being evicted from Pioneer Square. We interview Jim and meet a couple of artists who exemplify the story.

December 2000 - August 2001:
The artists are in but the story isn't over. I'm waiting for Sierra Arts to move in to the ground floor. We follow some of the follow up work, but right now the shooting is at a stand-still. This story will end with the grand opening celebration. It keeps getting moved.

October 12, 2001:
The grand opening is finally here. One last shoot and I'm done. (Of course that means the real work begins.) It's a little less organized but well attended. Sierra Arts is in its new home on the ground floor of the Riverside. There are tours of a few of the artists' apartments. It's a weird night. Not exactly what I thought would happen but what else is new.