The Joshua Tree Retreat Center announced plans to transform the facility at an invitation-only event last night. Interim Executive Director Terry Taylor-Castillo and four associates stood beaming like expectant parents before the crowd of about 50 invitees in one of the Center’s iconic stone and timber meeting halls. Retreat Center board member Cathie Hartnett announced that the 420-acre operation, originally known as the Institute for Mentalphysics, is poised to break out of survival mode where it has languished for years. Hartnett, along with noted writer and journalist, Paul Cullum, co-chair what Cullum called “an initiative to transform the Retreat Center into a vibrant and integrated part of Joshua Tree civic life.” Echoing the call for community involvement was board member and restaurant developer Gerard Noonan and Monica Mahoney. Mahoney’s background is in landscape architecture; her role there will begin with restoration of the three acres inappropriately cleared for parking last year. Noonan’s focus is on preservation, restoration and new business development which could include a commercial restaurant. Credit for the new and welcoming directive was attributed to interim executive director Taylor-Castillo, who manages retreats there throughout the year, but she says involving the local community remains a high priority.
