El Encanto May Get a Coffee Shop and Private Club

••• Traded: Los Angeles broke the news of the full list of buyers of El Encanto: Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, his brother Tyler Mateen, and Garrett Cayton of Culver Capital, who paid $82.2 million for the property. A subsequent press release added that “Tyrone McKillen, a Santa Barbara-based developer with extensive experience in luxury hospitality, has joined the team overseeing design and construction management,” and “landscape architect Mark Rios will be spearheading the landscape architecture updates to the property.” The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, got the scoop on what the new owners have in store. “The hotel, which opened in 1918, will be operated as a boutique property that will not be affiliated with a hotel chain. […] The new owners plan to spend as much as $40 million” on improvements, which is not nearly as useful a number as the minimum they intend to spend, and the hotel will remain open during the work. First up are the grounds, about which Cayton said, “We want to turn it into a mystical garden.” There’s no word yet about the restaurant, which I still believe is the linchpin to the whole endeavor, but “the new owners may replace a few rooms with retail offerings such as a coffee shop and perhaps create a membership club on top of the main building in space now used as a conference room.”

••• The class-act owners of 505 E. Los Olivos Street, where they propose to build a monstrous eight-story complex, have sued the Santa Barbara County over their unpaid taxes on the property, claiming that their LLC “is exempt from property taxes because it leases to a church, the Unitarian Universalist Mission. […] The Unitarian Universalist Mission does not have a website nor contact information easily accessible online. The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara said that it has no affiliation with the group. […] As for the Mission LLC’s property, its application [to build] was deemed complete by the City of Santa Barbara on July 3.” The primary owners of the Mission LLC are Craig and Stephanie Smith, who also plan to overbuild on Grand Avenue on the Lower Riviera. —Independent

••• Santa Barbara police officers were actually spotted “ticketing some e-bike riders and impounding a motorcycle that is not supposed to be on the road.” —KEYT

••• “Wednesday morning, on the sidewalks around Cottage Hospital on Nogales Avenue, three men dressed in dark clothing, one masked, armed with tripods and cameras were reportedly harassing members of the public by recording videos, shouting profanity, and threatening identity theft [….] Engaged in what is called ‘First Amendment auditing,’ the trio succeeded in having bystanders call 9-1-1. […] ‘First Amendment Auditing’ is trending among citizen activists, who record public officials and employees in public spaces to test their understanding and respect for First Amendment rights, particularly the right to photograph and record in public.” The whole thing sounds stupid, but harassing people going to a hospital—when no one is at his or her best—is just plain mean. —Independent

••• The temporary Goleta Valley Library at 6500 Hollister Avenue has opened; construction on the Fairview Avenue location is expected to take two years. —Noozhawk

••• “Highway 166 Reopens as Madre Fire Hits 55% Containment [.…] The highway connecting the Central Coast to Cuyama Valley has been closed since July 2 due to the now-80,615-acre wildfire.” —Noozhawk

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