The oddly-shaped, curved, beige building stands empty and worn. Its ground-to-ceiling windows are covered with tarps and dirt blows around on the cracked parking lot.

Yet inside, newly laid red brick covers the walls and pillars, and the floors are clean and prepped for tile. Hot rods, some restored and some waiting to be loved, rest on car lifts in the front room.

With enough care and money, Casper native John Huff said this building will be an auto-themed museum - a showroom open to the public to display cleaned and restored artifacts representing the Old Yellowstone District's past.

It could also be a classy reception hall, with summertime parties spilling into the front patio in the summer.

"It's a pretty neat vision I have," Sound and Cellular's owner said, standing in one of the empty rooms, imagining the finished product. "It will take two years, but if the city looked at my timeline, they would see it's very similar to theirs."

The city of Casper's plan is one riddled with questions and concerns, but is based on an idea that Huff hopes is successful.

The Old Yellowstone District, a 130-acre area between Poplar, First, Collins and David streets, has been a focus of the Casper City Council and city staff for years. In September, a plan was approved by the council and was sent to the Planning and Zoning Commission to finalize changes in zoning and design guidelines.

The nitty-gritty details of the plan have business and property owners worried. But it's the future of the area that should be the focus, said City Manager Tom Forslund.

He described a new house that over time becomes dated and needs repair.

"That is a life cycle of a house," Forslund said. "And communities go through the same kind of life cycle."

If the city of Casper relies only on market forces, he said, growth will continue on the east and west sides of town and not in the core of the city.

During a boom, the city has a chance to revitalize areas, and he said he sees this as one of those times.

"Having growth on the east and west is fine, but what you want is balanced growth in a community," he said. "If you don't have balanced growth, you ultimately have an unhealthy community with pockets of prosperity and pockets of blight."

This kind of balanced growth is exactly what some district property owners like Huff are trying to do.

Huff not only owns the Sound and Cellular building near the corner of Yellowstone and Poplar Street, but also an old apartment building between A1 Tire and Jackson's Automotive Enterprise, an empty lot across from Prazma Paint and Autobody, the old Tripeny Motors building and five empty lots to the south.

"My goal is not to thwart the city's efforts," Huff said, driving his red, extended-cab truck into the basement garage of the four-floor apartment building. "But instead of them going along alone, they should keep in touch with what we are doing."

What Huff is doing, he said, aligns pretty well with the city's vision for the area. It's a vision of shops, apartments and renovated buildings, while still preserving the history of the area.

Walking through the old apartment building, Huff pointed to copies of the Casper Tribune-Herald from the 1940s and opened an iron safe-door that was used by Lloyds Fir to seal a vault.

"This is one of the coolest parts of the building," he said, turning the large silver door handle near an iron lion head and opening the safe door. "It still works and everything."

The top two floors of apartments need work, Huff said. Right now the hallways look like something out of a Stephen King novel, graffiti covered, narrow and empty.

But Huff sees promise. He bought the building 10 months ago and redid its brick face, fixed the roof that allowed in small waterfalls and cleared out 100 tons of garbage.

He said it's a 10-year plan, but the city's vision is also long term.

Huff said he sees four high-end condominiums at roughly 2,500 to 3,000 square feet each. The ground floor that opens onto Yellowstone will have shops and cafes, and the basement will be a garage with an elevator connected the four floors.

He can't conceal his excitement when he talks about these projects, and he said he is also excited about some of what the city is trying to do. Huff said he also understands there are areas in the Old Yellowstone District that need work and attention, and like Forslund, hopes to see it a vibrant center of Casper once again.

Walking down the creaking stairs, Huff said, "We're going for broke here."

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com